The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites Regional Workshop for Europe 30 September – 2 October 2018, Palermo (Italy) Thematic Session 1: Tourism sustainability and visitors’ management. “The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization”

1. Pont du Gard / France
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
Rachel Peltier Muscatelli : Head of Research and projects department
Environmental Engineer
Sonia Sabatier : Heritage project manager
Master’s degree of Art History and Archaeology
Our roles at the center :
 Manage and lead the structuring projects of the Pont du Gard site:
‐ UNESCO management plan,
‐ Action plan of the Grand Site de France & Grand Site Occitanie labels
 Implement the site development plan
 Manage relations with institutional, scientist and local community partners
 Support management in the implementation of projects by ensuring the
consistency of the various projects with regard to environmental and heritage
protection
This department is linked to an administrative, legal and financial department

2. The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
Functions and objectives of the centre

3. Activities - Tourism Sustainability and Visitors Management
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
The activities proposed by the site were built on the
themes of the cultural program (man, stone and
water in Mediterranean countries)
Are proposed for:
 School public: Roman and landscape workshops,
Ancient construction technical
 All audiences: guided tours, events, exhibitions,
shows, conferences, thematic workshops, guided
tour in different languages
Sustainable tourism is also reflected in the
implementation of the
 plan for the protection of natural areas
 action program of the Grand Site de France du
Pont du Gard
 monitoring of attendance (qualitative and
quantitative studies) and audience knowledge
 landscape observatory (photographic campaign
every 2 to 3 years)

4. 1997
2018
Lessons learned - Tourism Sustainability and Visitors
Management
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
The development of the Pont du Gard site has made it possible
to :
 requalify the site (road closure)
 restore the landscape
 restore meaning to the various areas generating a
management to traffic flows
 develop educational spaces
 structure the local economy accompanied by job creation
(+100)
in fact this exemplary development that respects the landscape
and heritage was imagined at a minimum with a silent
architecture and, at the end, may be too silent and too difficult to
understanding by all our visitors
They don’t visit :
 Permanent exhibition (less than 30%)
 Garden about Mediterranean landscape and its history (?%)

5. Potential - Tourism Sustainability and Visitors Management
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
 Increase the understanding
between spaces of this site :
roman aqueduct in its natural
setting ; cultural
interpretation centre ;
Gardon river ; restaurant
services….
 Make visitors stay longer on
the site so that they can
enjoy the full range of
services… not only for them
to buy ice cream but we want
the visitor to experience the
site, to perhaps wonder
about the time scale, to feel
intimacy as the universality of
the site

6. Future - Tourism Sustainability and visitors management
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
Update the site development plan
with the aim :
 Improvement of the joints between the different spaces of the right and left banks
 Creation of new facilities : Estel’s quarry, outdoor play area, interpretation of the remains of the aqueduct
 Rehabilitation of museum spaces
Strategic objectives :
 To improve the quality of reception on the right and left banks: marking the entrance to the site through better
visibility, ergonomics, traffic and flow management
 To improve the reading of the Pont du Gard site for visitors through a more coherent articulation of the developed
spaces, and a new enhancement of the museum spaces
 To produce a program that corresponds to the objectives set by the scientific and cultural project of the Pont du Gard
site through a dynamic and innovative presentation of its associated themes
 To Reinforce the visibility of the Interpretation center and the open‐air exhibition “Mediterranean garden” To Improve
visitor reception by integrating the “Old restaurant" into the economic activity of the site and by creating new discovery
areas to strengthen the link between the two shores of the site
 To Define a project adapted to a place receiving more than 1 000 000 visitors per year (tourists, locals, individuals,
families, groups, schools, tour operators...) where uses and practices are multiple (swimming, canoeing, hiking,
mountain biking and cyclotourism, family stroll, cultural visit, guided tour...)

7. Contacts
The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)The role of Visitor Centres in UNESCO Designated Sites – Regional Workshop fo Europe – 30 September – 2 October 2018 Palermo (Italy)
Research and projects department : rachel‐peltier@pontdugard.fr/sonia‐sabatier@pontdugard.fr/ +33 466 375 062 / +33 466 375 046
Press and communication Department: Domnine Reynert‐Manager domnine‐reynert@pontdugard.fr / +33 466 375 021
http://www.pontdugard.fr/fr
French association world heritage: Chloé Campo‐Manager chloe.campo@assofrance‐patrimoinemondial.org/ +33 987 011 939
http://www.assofrance‐patrimoinemondial.org/
Association of Grands Sites de France: Soline Archambault‐Managersolinearchambault@grandsitedefrance.com /+33 148 746 744
http://www.grandsitedefrance.com/