The Millau viaduct is 20 years old: after the windfall of industrial tourism, the bet on the great outdoors

Paragliding departures are from Pouncho d'Agast, at the end of the Causse Noir, in Millau. EVA TISSOT

Industrial tourism linked to the viaduct was in full swing for a few years: during the construction phase, between 2002 and 2004, and until 2007. Visitors took the opportunity to discover the region and some return for the sporting activities: climbing, canoeing, paragliding, etc.

From 2003 to 2007, South Aveyron benefited from a “viaduct effect” which had an impact on the entire economy. The Avenir travel agency recorded 1,800 bus tours in 2005 compared to 116 in 2002. The Roquefort cellars were overwhelmed with visits: the Société group welcomed 240,000 people in 2007, 100,000 more than before 2002.

Today, attendance has fallen: 60,000 in 2022. “However, the figures returned in 2008 to the level they were in 2002“, the CCI specifies in a report.

The Aveyron attractiveness tourism agency, financed by the Department, counts the number of overnight stays. The results are more positive: 2005, with the opening of the viaduct and the A75, served as a lever. From less than 10 million overnight stays, Aveyron quickly exceeded 11 million and even reached 11.6 million last year.

On the flop side, the Millau town hall had tried a gamble: a viaduct hall-museum of major works, right in the centre, to encourage lovers of the work to come down from the causses. The hall is no longer a viaduct except in name, transformed into the Maison de la Région.

The viaduct area sees more than 900,000 people pass through each year

It is the motorway area of ​​the viaduct, 100 metres from the structure, which has taken all the light: tourists go up to the belvedere to admire the bridge, buy a postcard or visit the small museum expanded in 2021.

Attendance, however, is down: from 1.1 million in 2010, we went to 920,000 in 2018 (last year of counting, the tool having been degraded). “The viaduct is a spearhead but it no longer attracts people for its own sake and economic development is happening because there is easy access to the north and south of the bridge”, insists Corinne Mercier, coordinator of the Millau CCI site.

Activity zones along the motorway

Activity zones have sprung up in the wake of the bridge. Millau Larzac, in La Cavalerie, with 250 jobs on the clock, suffered from the compulsory liquidation of two of its locomotives, Vincent Cadeaux (decoration) and Kairos (reinforced concrete). A subsidiary of Ikea specializing in mattress recycling, RetourMat, will set up there.

Opposite, a zone dedicated to local businesses has been set up, with 150 jobs at stake. In the Millau viaduct 1 zone, on the Lévézou, the number of jobs has increased from 200 in 2008 to 550 today (including the Combes carpentry shop with around a hundred jobs). The Millau viaduct 2 zone is on its way: it could accommodate between 100 and 150 jobs.

The asset of outdoor sports

South Aveyron can count on another, more natural asset: outdoor sports. On the menu: hiking, trail running, biking, paragliding, canyoning, canoeing, climbing… “The viaduct has boosted tourism and today people come back for the outdoors more than for the viaduct”, estimates the president of the Natural Games festival (outdoor sports and music), Thomas Richard.

The 100 kilometers of Millau take place this year on September 28. E. TISSOT

The major sporting events (100 kilometers of Millau, trail des Templiers or de la Cité de pierre…) attract thousands of people. Up to doubling the time of a weekend for the population of Millau and its 20,000 inhabitants. And even, because we always come back to it, the Eiffage Race of the Millau viaduct, over 23.7 km. The race is scheduled this year on September 22. A 12.8 km version is also proposed, just to get as many people as possible involved in the party.

Local partnerships with Eiffage: “Too many requests” to satisfy everyone

The Eiffage Millau Viaduct Company is not making everyone happy. The associative network would like to be a little more supported. "We have too many requests, we are betting on events with support for demonstrations and we are patrons of the theater", specifies the CEVM.

The removal of the subsidy for the Natural Games festival has made people cough. “We had included base jumping in our program and the director of the viaduct at the time hated it” (the former deputy general director Emmanuel Cachot was replaced this year by Alexandre Claude), regrets the president of the association, Thomas Richard, who specifies that the jumps were made from cliffs and not from the viaduct (which base jumpers do illegally, to the great displeasure of Eiffage).

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