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From the Conceived Space to the Lived Space: Who Actually Benefits from the “Transition” of Pyrenean Tourism Areas? The Case of the Ax Valleys in Haute-Ariège

Emma Bardou et Jérôme Pelenc
Cet article est une traduction de :
De l’espace conçu à l’espace vécu : à qui profite la « transition » des territoires touristiques pyrénéens ? Le cas des vallées d’Ax en Haute-Ariège [fr]

Résumé

This article analyses the socio-spatial reconfigurations of a specific Pyrenean tourism area, the Ax valleys in Haute-Ariège, within a “transition” context of an economic model that is gasping for life, that of ski resorts. Through the prism of radical geography, namely relying on the works of Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey, it questions the opportunity that this pivotal moment could very well represent in terms of a geographical restructuring of capital which tends to (re)produce a space of its own. Using the results of a field survey carried out among inhabitants of the Ax valleys and actors in the Pyrenean mountains tourism development process, this article highlights the gap between the conceived space, designed by the actors of said planning, and the space that is actually lived by its inhabitants. On the one hand, the conceived space resembles a leisure business in which public and private partners join forces to make the necessary investments in order to run it while also having a tendency to absorb each resource for profit. The image of the territory, its “collective symbolic capital” linked to tourist imaginaries, is also exploited to boost its attractiveness and bring in new tourists, residents and businesses from the cities. We show how this territory acquires a certain centrality, representing a reserve for the city, both in terms of land and in a symbolic sense. On the other hand, the conceived space overrides the lived space by limiting inhabitants’ opportunities to appropriate their territory, especially those who are less privileged. The logics of tourism development challenge the liveability of the territory, especially given the subsequent difficulties of access to housing, but also due to the lack of places for social bonding and collective organisation of the inhabitants.

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Introduction

1Constructed since the 1950s around the “intensive and mono-specialised exploitation of snow products” (Vlès, 2021, p. 2), the mountain tourism model focussing on the development of ski resorts is in the midst of a profound crisis. In point of fact, the rise in winter temperatures and the growing lack of snow (Spandre et al., 2019) have had a detrimental impact on its smooth operation and have intensified the more structural contradictions of this economic model, now reaching the end of its life (Bourdeau, 2021; Cour des comptes, 2024). This is particularly true in the Pyrenees, where many resorts are now facing challenging financial situations (Cour des comptes, 2015) even though winter tourism is still an essential economic driving force for the mountain range (OPCC, 2018). What is more, the importance of tourism in these territories can undermine their liveability conditions, particularly given the difficulties it generates for part of the population when it comes to accessing housing, notably for workers in the tourism sector (Barrioz, 2020; 2022). The Pyrenean tourism areas are also facing other challenges (Bardou, 2023) such as the lack of young workers, the aging of their population or the decline of the agricultural sector (INSEE, 2021), contributing to a lack of economic diversification (Vlès, 2021).

2In this context, the rhetoric of transition is increasingly used in strategic plans and public policies concerning the development of the Pyrenean tourism areas. However, some of the transformations underway are questionable in terms of their alignment with current issues and the needs of the inhabitants of these territories. This article proposes an analysis of the ongoing reconfiguration in the territory of the Ax valleys in Haute-Ariège, using the framework of radical geography (among others, Lefebvre, 1974, and Harvey, 2018) to consider the gap between the space conceived by transition strategies and the space actually lived by the inhabitants. We will show that, far from challenging the current model, these strategies, implemented on different scales, actually tend to renew certain forms of space appropriation, replicating the dominant model, a vector of exclusion and dispossession for part of the local population, both symbolically and materially.

3First, we will present our theoretical framework, the methodology used and the case study, then we will outline our main findings.

The Ax Valleys through the Prism of Radical Geography

The Production of the Pyrenean Tourist Space: Transition or Capitalist Restructuring?

4Our reflection falls under the legacy of Henri Lefebvre’s philosophy, more specifically the one developed in La production de l’espace (1974). According to him, the capitalist mode of production does not stop at the walls of the factory, at the mere production of goods, but rather takes over the production process of the space of daily life in its entirety. It generates and conditions the power relations between social actors, especially between social classes, the dominant class appropriating space to assert its interests to the detriment of others. Consequently, the space produced greatly limits the opportunities for the dominated classes to appropriate and take control of their own living space (Ripoll and Veschambre, 2005).

5Here, we are particularly basing ourselves on the conceptual triad “perceived, conceived and lived space” which allows Lefebvre to analyse the production process of space in its complexity. The conceived space refers to the dominant representations of space and society “[…] related to the production relationships and ‘order’ they impose [...]” (Martin, 2006, p. 4), which justify the actions of public or private authorities. It’s “[…] the space of the knowledgeable: planners, urbanists, ‘carving’ and ‘designing’ technocrats […]” (Ibid., p. 4). The lived space is the “space of representations”, that of the inhabitants and users (Lefebvre, 1974, p. 49.): “it’s the dominated and suffered space, which the imagination tries to appropriate and modify” (Martin, 2006, p. 5). Finally, the perceived space is, according to the definition put forward by Lariagon, “the socially inherited space, the social-material, infrastructural context from which the conceived is elaborated and to which the lived adapts” (Lariagon, 2020, p. 6). While these three levels are inextricably linked in reality (Lefebvre, 1974, p. 49), for the sake of clarity, we will focus here on the contradictory relationships between the conceived space and the lived space. By analysing them, we can highlight the material realisation of the dominant representations of space (appreciable modification of the space and social practices) which corresponds, in large part, to the perceived space.

6David Harvey (2018), in line with Henri Lefebvre’s work, has shown show that one of the essential conditions for resolving the structural crises of capitalism is the geographical expansion of capital. While this spatial expansion has historically taken over “non-capitalist” spaces and new markets, it can also take place on spaces that have already been produced, in a logic of “recycling” space (Gintrac, 2018, p. 14). This is particularly true in cities that are considered “privileged areas for capital appreciation” (p. 14). Our aim here is to apply this analytical framework to the territory of the Ax valleys which, in some respects, can also be considered a strategic space for the geographical restructuring of capital.

7In his article “L’art de la rente”, Harvey (2018) shows that space, if it possesses certain qualities, can produce monopoly rents through what he calls “collective symbolic capital” (Harvey, 2018, p. 47). In the case of the Ax valleys, monopoly rent is indirect, it is “a situational (locational)” variant of the classic monopoly rent (p. 33). After all, here, it is not the resource – the territory – that is directly marketed for its unique qualities, but rather “the commodity or service produced through its use” (p. 33).

The Ax Valleys: A Tourism Area Caught Between Centrality and Fragility

8Our focus here is the Ax valleys territory, a central geographical area of the Communauté de Communes de la Haute-Ariège (CCHA), connected by the Paris/Toulouse/ Latour-de-Carol SNCF line as well as by national road 20 which connects Toulouse, Spain and the Principality of Andorra. As well as its geographical centrality, the Ax valleys territory is also where the majority of the CCHA population resides, as well as where the territory’s employment and services are based (PLUIh Haute-Ariège, 2022). Ax-les-Thermes is the most populous municipality with 1,285 inhabitants in 2021 (INSEE, 2024). It is also the most equipped in terms of tourism infrastructures. The Ax valleys territory has two alpine ski resorts: Ax-3-Domaines, the largest ski resort in the department and third ski area in the French Pyrenees, as well as the small resort of Ascou. There are also two Nordic areas: the Plateau de Beille and Le Chioula. As well as the ski resorts, there are other tourist sites such as a thermoludic centre, a casino and a thermal centre which attracts several thousand spa-goers every year.

Figure 1: The Ax valleys in Haute-Ariège

Figure 1: The Ax valleys in Haute-Ariège

Production: Emma Bardou

  • 1 According to the concept developed by Laurent Davezies, the in-place economy is an economy based on (...)

9The CCHA had 7,116 inhabitants in 2021 although its population is aging and characterised by a sharp decline (INSEE, 2024). The retirement age category represents 38.7% of households. In 2021, according to the INSEE, 79.6% of jobs were in the face-to-face sphere1 and were mainly located in the Ax valleys sector (PLUIh Haute-Ariège, 2022). The majority of jobs in the latter category are related to tourism, winter tourism in particular. This type of employment is characterised by “[…] non-standard employment contracts, geared towards the flexibility and mobility of workers” (Demeyère, 2020, p. 4) with many seasonal contracts. It is marked by a high degree of insecurity, implying large amounts of hours and often undeclared work as well as a “[…] deficiency and above all variability and uncertainty in terms of remuneration [...]” (Ibid., p. 4). The categories of employees and labourers are the most prominent socio-occupational categories within the CCHA, representing 49.9% of employed people (INSEE, 2024). Finally, the proportion of people living below the poverty line in the territory is 16.8% compared to the national percentage of 14.5%.

10Tourism exerts a heavy pressure on land, with the percentage of second homes at an average of 65.9% across the CCHA, rising to over 80% of the housing stock among several towns in the Ax valleys in 2021 (INSEE, 2024). There is also a significant amount of tourist accommodation (furnished tourist accommodation, lodges, etc.), which considerably limits the housing available for living in this territory year-round (or for the season), as well as the houses for sale or for rent (PLUIh Haute-Ariège, 2022). Tourism can also lead to higher property prices and even speculation on the latter, making land difficult to access for the majority of the population. The market is largely dominated by second home transactions and, in recent years, an increase in prices has been observed.

A Methodology for Understanding the Gap Between the Conceived space and the Lived space

  • 2 The main documents studied were: the 2021 Future Mountain Plan, the Inter-regional Plan for the Man (...)
  • 3 https://www.agencedespyrenees.fr/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

11First, in order to analyse the conceived space, we studied the main strategic documents and plans outlining the major directions for development in the coming years. These include a “transition” component concerning the Pyrenean tourism areas and the Ax valleys in particular2. Second, we complemented this approach with ten months of participatory observation within the Agence des Pyrénées, an interregional structure dedicated to the development and management of the mountain range3. Thanks to one of the authors having a work-study contract between October 2022 and July 2023, we took part in a large number of meetings and official events on the ground, notably on the theme of the transition of the economy in the Pyrenean tourism areas. This allowed us to formally and informally interact with the different actors involved in the development of the mountain range. We recorded all of our observations in a field log. Third, during the months of March and April 2023, we carried out 21 semi-structured interviews with elected representatives and permanent residents of the Ax valleys area with different profiles (see figure 2) focussing particularly on labourers and employees, the categories most likely to suffer from socio-economic inequalities and those most represented among the working people in the area studied (see above). In order to try to understand the lived space, all of the people we interviewed for this survey live and work in the Ax valleys territory all year round. Those surveyed were met over several periods of direct observation, first from the 9th of February 2023 to the 26th of April 2023, and then from the 4th of March 2024 to the 30th of April 2024. The interviews were carried out either at the respondents’ homes or in public places (town hall, cafes, parks) and lasted from between forty-five minutes to one hour and fifteen minutes.

Figure 2: Interviews conducted, according to the socio-professional category of respondents

Categories of
respondents

Socio-professional categories

Number of interviews

Permanent residents of the Ax valleys

Farmers

2

Artisans, traders and entrepreneurs

2

Executives and higher intellectual professions

1

Intermediate professions

3

Employees

4

Labourers (all are seasonal workers)

6

Elected representatives of the territory

3

From the Conceived Space to the Lived Space: Inhabiting a Margin Territory That Becomes Strategic

The Conceived Space: Between Land Reserve and Symbolic Reserve

12The different strategies implemented in a logic of transition for the tourism economy across the Ax valleys but also, very often, other Pyrenean tourism areas, show a space conceived as a true leisure business.

13The grouping of Mixed Economy Companies to form public-private partnerships (Cour des comptes, 2024) is one of the strategies observed to overcome the struggles faced by the resorts. The ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines is a clear example of this trend, since it has been managed by the mixed-economy company SAVA.SEM since 2004, which also operates the Ariège ski resorts of Guzet and Monts-d'Olmes. As well as the local municipalities and the department representing the “public sector” part, SAVA.SEM includes three private companies: Crédit Mutuel, SOREPAR (subsidiary of the Caisse d'Épargne) and PGI, an international company based in Andorra, the world leader in mountain tourism development. This type of public-private governance is obviously aimed towards development since, within the next year, the eight resorts in Ariège will be grouped into one management union to encourage future investments. A 78-million-euro plan would have been finalised between the different communities and the Occitanie region for the next 15 years,4 including 45 million euros for the Ax resort alone. To deal with the lack of recurring snow, the latter is considering raising its skiing area to 2,000 m (Cour des comptes, 2024). However, as the mayor of the municipality explains, “these are only defensive investments to try and hold on for as long as possible” (Mayor of Ax-les-Thermes, 22nd of March, 2024).

14This grouping of resorts also aims to promote the diversification of tourism activities, as explained by the CCHA president in a regional press interview:

  • 5 Dis-leurs!.fr, 25th of March, 2024, “Économie: L’Ariège veut transformer ses huit stations de ski e (...)

[…] we want to turn all the resorts into mountain resorts. We’re no longer all about skiing, but without skiing, it’s all over... we’ll continue to develop where we can, to create ski lifts. [...] Or propose activities that can be enjoyed in winter as well as in summer5.

15For the president of the CCHA, “mountain resorts” seem to mean resorts that offer activities for all four seasons. With this in mind, the Ax resort has been expanding its summer offer by opening its ski area, ski lifts and hotel infrastructure from the end of June to the beginning of September6. It offers several activities: Mountain biking, a bike park, hiking, devalkarting, geocaching, a swimming pool, a zip line, etc., but this model is still fragile (Chambre régionale des comptes, 2023, Cour des comptes, 2024). This diversification logic ultimately replicates the same business model as skiing, which is focused on infrastructure investment. It also tends to bundle activities that were previously free (hiking, climbing, etc.) into a commercial relationship, increasing the number of visitors to the sites. This commercialisation of access to nature therefore represents a threat to the “common assets” of mountains, turning them into a resource to be exploited (Vlès, 2023).

16Another trend in the adaptation strategies implemented in the Pyrenean tourism areas is that of upgrading the range of touristic offer. In Ax-les-Thermes, for example, a new luxury hotel complex is expected to open its doors in April 2025. This hotel complex, which will be a “Mercure Hôtel” franchise and operated by the private group Cité Hôtels, will have two five-star suites, a gourmet restaurant and a four-star hotel with 51 rooms. With a total budget of 16 million euros7, this project includes public actors (see figure 5) and in particular, for the acquisition of land, the Foncière des Pyrénées8, which pursues the objective of “[...] contributing to the densification and upmarket upgrading of the accommodation offer of the Pyrenees mountain resorts”9.

17In parallel to this project, major works were initiated in the city centre of the municipality at the beginning of 2024 as part of a large-scale renovation project for the heart of the city10. While the link between the two operations has not been explicitly formulated by the developers of these projects, it can be seen as a cause and effect relationship, with a desire to bring the territory up “to the standards” of the hotel’s future clientele.

Figure 3: Construction of the new hotel complex in Ax-les-Thermes

Figure 3: Construction of the new hotel complex in Ax-les-Thermes

Source: Emma Bardou (22.03.2023)

Figure 4: Renovation of the Allées Paul Salette, Ax-les-Thermes town centre

Figure 4: Renovation of the Allées Paul Salette, Ax-les-Thermes town centre

Source: Emma Bardou (22.03.2023)

18As shown in the table below (see figure 5), as well as investment in tourism, the road infrastructure is also developing rapidly in the area, notably with the project of creating a fast road, or even a motorway, linking Toulouse, the Principality of Andorra and Barcelona via the Ax valleys (Gatineau, 2020). These projects highlight the essential role that local authorities play in implementing conditions conducive to the movement of people, goods and capital. Logically, this leads us to wonder how such a small territory can attract so many investments (almost 75 million euros over the last 20 years for tourist infrastructure alone, and a further 238 million for road infrastructure. See figure 5) and whether they are of benefit to the permanent inhabitants.

Figure 5: Summary table of the main investments in the last twenty years in the Ax valleys territory

Projects

Dates

Amounts

Main funders

Creation of a deviation of the National Road 20 at Ax-les-Thermes

Opened in December 2016

69M€

French state, Occitanie region, Department of Ariège, European funds

Renovation of the ski station building of Beille

Building opened in February 2023

8,5M€

French state (« France Relance »), Occitanie region, Department of Ariège, CCHA

Creation of a luxury hotel complex

Construction begins: May 2022.

Hotel opening scheduled for April 2025

16M€

Caisse des dépôts, Occitanie region, Department of Ariège, CCHA, Ax-les-Thermes

Renovation of the city centre

Start of work end 2023, completion planned for 2025

3,7M€

Ax-les-Thermes, French state, Occitanie region and Department of Ariège

Creation of a deviation of the National Road 20 at Tarscon-sur-Ariège

Start of construction planned in 2024

169,5M€

French State, Occitanie region and Department of Ariège

Modernisation and restructuring ski resort of Ax 3 Domaines

Investments over the next 15 years

45M€

Occitanie region, Department of Ariège, CCHA, Ax-les-Thermes

19Furthermore, this area, like other tourist destinations in the Pyrenees, is also a space that is conceived as a symbolic reserve for the city. After all, building infrastructure is not enough; it is also necessary to attract a new tourist clientele, along with new businesses and residents, both in winter and summer. Attracting people from the cities is of utmost importance, as evidenced by the various territorial communication and marketing campaigns depicting a conceived space that contrasts with the urban space and its characteristics.

20For example, for the summer season, the Ax 3 Domaines resort has recently been promoting its property using the concept of a “bubble of freshness”: “[…] from Ax-les-Thermes, you can easily reach a height of 2,000 metres thanks to its cable car and chairlift. [...] The ultimate way to relax outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of the city!”11. More generally, in 2019, the Tourism Development Agency of Ariège launched a communication campaign entitled “Free as the air” (see figure 6), which portrays the territory as “virgin”, “wild” or “uninhabited”. An area cut off from the rest of the world where one can be “free”, “unreachable”.

Figure 6: Images from the “Free as the air” communication campaign

Figure 6: Images from the “Free as the air” communication campaign

Source: https://www.pro-ariegepyrenees.com/​ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

  • 12 See, for example, the recent territorial brand Pyrénées, which aims to portray a vision of the Pyre (...)

21In these territorial marketing campaigns and in the representations of the territory they convey, the inhabitants are either absent or staged to represent the assumed preserved authenticity of mountain-dwellers, as guarantees of a “sympathy capital for the mountain” (Contract for the Inter-regional State-Region Plan 2021-2027, p. 66) and the “hospitality” of the area12. These campaigns therefore contribute to reproducing the dominant imaginaries constructed by and for tourism since the end of the 18th century (Hagimont, 2017, 2022). First of all, they convey the representations of those who manufacture them and those of the target public (Beuze Edragas and Bouron, 2019), in this case, those who do not (yet) live in the area and, more particularly, a wealthy urban population.

22As well as the various tourism promotion campaigns in the area, there are also different attempts to attract new inhabitants and businesses from neighbouring cities, such as the creation, in 2021, by the Agence Ariège Attractivité, of a dedicated platform: “Vous venez quand?” (When are you coming?)13. In order to develop teleworking, partnerships have been created between property agencies, companies from Toulouse and the Agence Ariège Attractivité, which aims to “[...] convince companies from Toulouse and the Paris area of the advantages of Ariège for organising, with their employees, a balance between commuting and telework by settling in a rural territory which is connected and close to the Toulouse metropolitan area14.

23In conclusion, the conceived space is getting increasingly close to being a territory that operates like a company, bringing together public and private shareholders to ensure its development (and profitability), thanks especially to territorial marketing. It’s a space that is increasingly dedicated to tourism and leisure, where each piece of territory and each activity is a potentially exploitable resource. In this regard, we could say, with Brenner and Katsikis (2020), that even though these territories are considered communities “beyond the influence of the urban hubs”15, they nevertheless constitute the hinterlands of the cities, especially Toulouse. They therefore constitute reserves of value that can be exploited more effectively: land value but also symbolic value.

24Where, then, do the inhabitants fit into this territory-enterprise? What repercussions does this conceived space have on their everyday lives?

The (Badly) Lived Space of the Ax Valleys

25Although substantial investments are being made in the Ax valleys to “save” the resorts, the most disadvantaged inhabitants of the territory are finding it extremely hard to find permanent housing. Daniel’s testimony (38 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector) is particularly enlightening on this subject:

I know lots of people who work here and are looking to buy or even rent, but they can’t find anything. [...] Sometimes there are clear failures, people who find a job but can’t find anywhere to live and are forced to leave. I have friends who are being forced to leave the area even though they’ve been living here for several years because the house they were renting was sold and they can’t find anywhere else to live (Daniel, 9th of March, 2023).

26These hurdles prevent the inhabitants interviewed from planning their long-term activities in this territory, contributing to a feeling of dispossession or even exclusion from their living environment. All of the respondents are aware of the link between the housing problem in the territory and the importance of tourism. Some of them feel that tourism is increasingly appropriating space to the detriment of living on it or other uses of the land, such as agriculture. Thomas (40 years old, breeder) tells us about the different conflicts of use that are becoming increasingly burdensome for his own activity and that of other breeders:

The land we have for the sheep was provided by the owners, but now we’re at odds with some of them because they want their land back to build houses on it and make money, families who are speculating. There are lawsuits going on in another municipality about this very matter, people who want to take their land out of the AFP [Association Foncière Pastorale] to speculate. (Thomas, 10th of March, 2023).

27In the various testimonies gathered, there is also an awareness of power relations between social classes that are reflected in unequal access to land on the territory. Thomas, for example, explains:

If you want to buy here there’s always a fight, I know a lot of people who want to buy, but it always goes to the highest bidder and the problem is that that’s never us. The people who come here to buy don’t have the same resources as us, so it drives up the prices (Thomas, 10th of March, 2023).

28An elected official from the Ax valleys interviewed confirms:

There’s like a ‘clash of populations’, a competition between a population that is rich, has means, often sees the mountain as an attractive space, and the population who actually lives there and no longer has the means to live here (Mayor of l’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre, 22nd of March, 2023).

29It’s interesting to note that the municipalities located at higher altitudes (from 900 metres), which get the most sun and offer a “panoramic” view over the valley, often have a higher proportion of second homes than others along with a relatively high price per square metre. This suggests the existence of “staging” logics and also testifies to the unequal access to space between different population groups.

30Moreover, the transformations underway in the territory and new development projects, such as the luxury hotel complex at Ax-les-Thermes, reinforce the feeling of dispossession-exclusion from their territory among the inhabitants surveyed. Marine (30 years old, employed in the social sector), in an emblematic way, finds herself wondering the following:

I’m not sure what their intentions are for Ax-les-Thermes by putting a luxury hotel there. What type of people will it attract? It makes me wonder what population they want to bring in (Marine, 11th of March, 2023).

31As for Marc (48 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism and agricultural sector), he thinks that a shift to more “high-end” tourism will lead to changes in qualifications:

I think our political leaders prefer to, quote unquote, ‘raise the bar’. They would rather have a clientele of a certain standing, and in turn, jobs of a certain standing, where you’ll no longer find the basic seasonal worker with no training (Marc, 10th of April, 2023).

32The evolution of the tourist clientele linked to the creation of this new hotel complex gives the inhabitants the feeling that they’re missing out on a certain command over tourism, which leads them to advocate for the current form of tourism. In fact, for Martin (33 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector):

It’s a massive investment and it’s not even aimed at the tourist population we have here. We’re mainly people from Toulouse, families, it’s still reasonably popular (Martin, 23rd of April, 2024).

33It is also of note that the regular use by inhabitants of the pronoun “they” can be interpreted as a form of self-exclusion from the discourse on territorial development and transition, which is materially reflected in their lived experience of the territory.

34The production of space centred around tourism can also be a hindrance to the collective organisation of the inhabitants, in the sense that it makes it difficult to create spaces for socialisation. Here, by “collective organisation” we mean the perspective of a right to the city as proposed by Lefebvre (1968) and Harvey (2011), which aims for a (re)appropriation by the inhabitants of their material conditions of existence in the space where they live.

35The interviews conducted during this research show a clear lack of places to meet up, which in turn facilitate the creation of social bonds. Julie (35 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector) explains this phenomenon: “here, if you don’t go to the bar in the evening, there are no other places to meet up” (Julie, 12th of March, 2023). As a matter of fact, while the bars, cafes and restaurants in the territory are the main meeting places, they are mainly intended for a tourist clientele (high prices, after-ski atmosphere, etc.), which means that many inhabitants go there rarely or not at all.

36For some, this lack of opportunity to create social links between inhabitants is also caused by the gradual disappearance of events that could play this role, such as farmers’ markets or local festivals, which are also today often aimed at a tourist clientele. In the Local Intercommunal Urban Planning Plan with a Habitat component (PLUIh), the CCHA also emphasises the tourist vocation of cultural, sports and leisure offers, which are only slightly or not at all adapted to the inhabitants (PLUIh Haute-Ariège, 2022, p. 33). It is clear that the space produced by and for tourism leaves little room for other forms of appropriation.

37Beyond the space itself, the pace and work conditions in the tourism sector, and more generally the seasonal jobs in the territory, faced by the majority of those surveyed, are also put forward as an obstacle to the implementation of collective projects, which can be a support for political organisation between inhabitants. These jobs (ski lift operator, catering waiter or cook, mountain guide, etc.) often require particularly physical and intense work during certain periods, leaving the workers with little free time. In addition, commuting times between the places of residence and the workplace are often considerable. As several interviewees who took part in a collective market gardening project in the valley explain: while these conditions do not directly hinder the implementation of such initiatives, they do stop them from continuing. In fact, for Julien (43 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector):

I think people would like to [...], [but] nothing seems to take hold, there’s a lot of huffing and puffing, also because of the seasonal jobs. You can’t do anything during the season, especially if you have kids... I think it’s definitely a barrier for collective organisation […] (Julien, 12th of April, 2023).

  • 16 An interesting example, not directly related to the tourism sector but rather seasonal mountain wor (...)

38Another interesting point is the limited collective organisation between female workers in the same jobs in the tourism sector, especially seasonal workers. In fact, “the fragmentation of the statutes feeds precariousness by making collective organisation difficult […]” (Demeyère, 2020, p. 5). This could, however, be a lever for improving working conditions in the sector and for creating social links and initiatives between local workers, who often face the same difficulties. While there are several trade union organisations, they remain sector-specific16, which may strengthen the division between the different statutes. Daniel (38 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector) highlights the need for a collective organisation of workers at the territorial level:

There’s no collective organisation for this [the working conditions of seasonal workers in the territory], and it’s something we could do with. I think something should be set up so that the seasonal workers can organise themselves, even all the workers in the territory in general. If we organised something among local workers it could be a way to bring people together and start thinking about specific topics (Daniel, 9th of March, 2023).

39In general, for the inhabitants surveyed, collective organisation and action, although difficult to implement, represent a possible solution to their difficulties, such as access to housing and land. For Camille (29 years old, seasonal worker in the tourism sector), for example:

There really are things we can do collectively to take action on housing and land in general, such as setting up an association to identify and contact owners of empty houses or second homes and make proposals to them (Camille, 23rd of April, 2023).

40These testimonies exemplify how the conceived space, very clearly produced in favour of tourism, can materialise in the daily life of the inhabitants and dominate the lived space in the sense that it limits their opportunities to (re)appropriate their space (and time) and therefore their possibilities of resistance and collective emancipation.

Conclusion

41While the “white gold rush” of the 1950s led Bruno Cognat to see mountain tourist territories as “open-air factories” (Cognat, 1973), today, the territory seems to be produced more like a leisure business, in particular through the development of mixed-economy companies and public-private partnerships. The dominant players in the planning seem to conceive the transition as an opportunity to better integrate the Ax valleys into a globalised world. As this case study shows, this transition is actually part of a geographical restructuring of capital, where the urbanisation processes driven by the metropolises come seeking land and symbolic reserves. Tourism is therefore seen as the activity most likely to exploit the reserve represented by the Ax valleys territory, and more widely the Pyrenean tourism areas. From this perspective, the conceived space aims to maintain or even develop the guaranteed income achieved through tourism, taking advantage of the symbolic collective capital linked to the Ax valleys, therefore determining the role of the inhabitants. The latter are either staged as a guarantee of authenticity capital or they are quite simply invisible or even forced to leave the territory, which has become too expensive for them. This (non-existent) place for the inhabitants in regional planning clearly highlights the inequalities between social classes that play out in the production of this tourist area, to which other inequalities such as gender relations can be added, which have not been analysed here.

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Bibliographie

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Notes

1 According to the concept developed by Laurent Davezies, the in-place economy is an economy based on the production of goods and services for people present in a given territory, including temporary populations such as tourists and secondary residents. (Davezies, 2008).

2 The main documents studied were: the 2021 Future Mountain Plan, the Inter-regional Plan for the Management and Development of the Pyrenean Mountain Range, the Contract for the Inter-regional State-Region Plan 2021-2027, the Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Pyrenean Mountain Range 2024, the Pyrenees Destination Contract 2022-2024 and the Local Intercommunal Urban Planning and Habitat Plan of Haute-Ariège 2023.

3 https://www.agencedespyrenees.fr/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

4 https://ariege.fr/app/uploads/2024/04/2024.03.22-Dossier-de-presse-Departement-Ariege-syndicat-de-montagne.pdf (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

5 Dis-leurs!.fr, 25th of March, 2024, “Économie: L’Ariège veut transformer ses huit stations de ski en ‘stations de montagne’”. https://dis-leur.fr/economie-lariege-veut-transformer-ses-huit-stations-de-ski-en-stations-de-montagne/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

6 https://ete.ax.ski/fr (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

7 https://www.mairie-ax.fr/mairie/les-projets/chateau-villemur (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

8 Created in 2021 and dedicated to the development of tourism real estate in the mountain range, the Foncière des Pyrénées is a subsidiary of the Agence Régionale Aménagement Construction Occitanie and the Compagnie des Pyrénées which manages several resorts and tourist sites in the Pyrenees.

9 https://www.arac-occitanie.fr/actualites/objectif-pyrenees/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

10 http://www.mairie-ax.fr/mairie/les-projets/plans-d-actions-rn20 (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

11 https://ete.ax.ski/fr/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

12 See, for example, the recent territorial brand Pyrénées, which aims to portray a vision of the Pyrenees as “[...] an alternative to the world’s ecological, economic and social stalemates, embodied by Pyrenean hospitality”. https://marque-pyrenees.fr/

13 https://vous-venez-quand.com/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

14 https://www.azinat.com/2020/12/api-et-aaa-un-partenariat-pour-accueillir-de-nouvelles-populations/ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

15 “Le nouveau zonage en aires d’attraction des villes”, INSEE, 2021. https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4808607 (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

16 An interesting example, not directly related to the tourism sector but rather seasonal mountain workers, is the recent creation of the Syndicat des Gardiens de Troupeaux. For more on this, see: https://revuenunatak.noblogs.org/files/2024/02/Nunatak-9-janvier-2024.pdf (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).

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Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1: The Ax valleys in Haute-Ariège
Crédits Production: Emma Bardou
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/13843/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 411k
Titre Figure 3: Construction of the new hotel complex in Ax-les-Thermes
Crédits Source: Emma Bardou (22.03.2023)
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/13843/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 273k
Titre Figure 4: Renovation of the Allées Paul Salette, Ax-les-Thermes town centre
Crédits Source: Emma Bardou (22.03.2023)
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/13843/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 233k
Titre Figure 6: Images from the “Free as the air” communication campaign
Crédits Source: https://www.pro-ariegepyrenees.com/​ (last consulted on the 28th of November, 2024).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/13843/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 331k
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Référence électronique

Emma Bardou et Jérôme Pelenc, « From the Conceived Space to the Lived Space: Who Actually Benefits from the “Transition” of Pyrenean Tourism Areas? The Case of the Ax Valleys in Haute-Ariège »Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine [En ligne], 112-3 | 2024, mis en ligne le 31 janvier 2025, consulté le 21 mars 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rga/13843 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/139tz

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Auteurs

Emma Bardou

PhD student in geography, Interdisciplinary Laboratory Solidarities, Societies, Territories (LISST) – Rural Dynamics, University of Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès
emma.bardou@univ-tlse2.fr

Jérôme Pelenc

Lecturer at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, PhD in geography, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Solidarities, Societies, Territories (LISST) - Rural Dynamics
jerome.pelenc@univ-tlse2.fr

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