- 1 All the quotes in this article are translated from French.
1The quintessential Mediterranean symbol, the olive tree has been the focus of renewed interest in France since the 1990s. After being brought to a complete standstill by the frost of 1956, olive growing has gradually regained its place in several departments in the south of the country. At the same time as olive growing was being promoted , in particular by associations of enlightened amateurs (Triquet and Grison, 2023), development strategies around the olive grove began to emerge, "in relation to the various qualities it brings and the representations it generates1" (Durbiano, 2000). The olive tree is intrinsically linked to the Mediterranean area, defining its contours and nourishing its meals and identities. The olive is an integral part of the Mediterranean diet, and has been included on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, linked to skills, knowledge, rituals, traditions and symbolism. In our opinion, it constitutes heritage in the full sense of the term (Deramond, 2023 a and b), which responds to the process of patrimonialization in different territories where the olive tree had disappeared or greatly regressed after the frost of 1956. To study it, we propose a comparison with the model developed by Jean Davallon for tangible heritage. Davallon identified five gestures corresponding to five stages in the process of an object acquiring the status of heritage (2014): its discovery as a 'found object', the certification of its origin, the confirmation of the existence of the original world, the representation of the original world by the object, and finally the celebration of the 'found object'. It is this final stage that we are going to focus on. It is made possible by making the heritage object available to a community - the community for whom the object is supposed to be heritage. It is during this stage that the heritage is updated and, above all, it is on this stage that relies the heritage’s durability (Béguin, 2021). More specifically, and with Laurent-Sébastien Fournier, we assume that "the olive is heritage because it represents the local identity, it is reflected in a set of discourses that have constructed this identity, it is an indicator of choice for discovering it, and it is good for consumption by tourists" (Fournier, 2010, p. 107).
2This article is part of a wider reflection initiated within the European Olive4ALL project2, funded by the Joint Program Initiative on Cultural Heritage3, which uses the olive as a case study to examine the enhancement of heritage for the purposes of sustainable development. Olive4ALL is a research-action project with an operational aim, based on the enhancement of the olive tree heritage, emphasising the links maintained by women and men over the years in the Mediterranean area, as a basis for sustainable tourism. It leads to recommendations for professionals in the olive-growing, cultural and tourism sectors.
3This article is therefore part of a wider framework, which aims to observe the inscription of the olive tree and olive growing in different territories (mainly Portugal, Greece and France, but also in the rest of Europe). How is heritage enhancement used to develop tourism and/or the territory? This case study, carried out in a French context, provides an opportunity to observe this heritage enhancement in an eminently tourist context, that of a town in Provence, which makes extensive use of olive trees and olives for communication purposes.
4We're looking at the place of the olive tree and how it is promoted in Saint-Rémy de Provence, a town that is emblematic of a renowned olive-growing region, the Alpilles. Known as the home of Vincent Van Gogh during the last years of his life, it is the 'capital' of the Alpilles, a small region in the north of the Bouches-du-Rhône department renowned for its olive oil production. So we're looking at the place of this heritage in the municipality's communications, to highlight the way in which the olive tree marks an area and helps to build a local tourist identity. Like Christian Marcon and Marina Belavoir (2018), we assume that this identity "results from the interaction of actions and communications implemented by a large number of stakeholders, ranging from ordinary citizens to businesses and public stakeholders" (Marcon, Belavoir, 2018, p. 271). Consequently, we wish to observe the signs of 'Provençality' associated with the olive tree and their role in an iconic discourse producing the image of a 'more or less fantasised' territory, to paraphrase the work of Patrick Fraysse (2012) on 'signs of medievality' in tourism communication. In this respect, we hypothesise that the olive, olive oil and olive trees have above all an emblematic value as symbols of Provence used mainly for commercial and tourist purposes and as witnesses of a claimed cultural identity.
5As we know, every territory is linked to an identity defined as the combination of images, imagery and imagination (Amirou et al. 2011). For Philippe Merigot and his colleagues (2019), imagery groups together the sensitive elements of the territory (its heritage, climate, relief, architecture, etc.), the imaginary corresponds to the evocative power of the territory (the memory attached to it, the associations of ideas it raises) and the image designates what the territory wishes to convey about itself to reinforce its attractiveness. We propose to examine how these different elements are mobilised in relation to the olive tree in the situation under study. The aim will be to identify the extent to which they contribute to the celebration phase highlighted by Jean Davallon, or conversely to diverting or even obscuring this final phase, which is considered by the author to be essential.
6We put forward the hypothesis that various stakeholders in Saint Rémy de Provence use the imagery associated with the olive tree to activate an imaginary world that provides images with positive messages for the area. As all tourism discourse is part of a promotional logic (Boutaud, 2019), the image must be close to the ideal representation of the destination and must be eye-catching and sellable, even if this means adhering to stereotypes. It is this whole iconic discourse based on the use of images linked to the olive heritage that we propose to study.
- 4 Masters in Culture and Communication at the University of Avignon, Museums and Heritage Mediation ( (...)
- 5 The survey was carried out by Julie Deramond, Pauline Grison and Éric Triquet on 30 August 2023, on (...)
7To examine this hypothesis, we carried out fieldwork based on a semio-pragmatic approach as theorised by Roger Odin (2011). The material collected and analysed for this study consisted of interviews with tourism professionals about their perceptions of the role of the olive in territorial and tourism development4 and a survey of the landscape, urban, media, commercial, place-name, institutional and cultural presence of the olive tree and its by-products5. This survey enabled us to infer the underlying iconic messages, but also to study the absent images. We are interested here in all the stakeholders who, through their activities, audiences or uses, use the olive tree in their communication. This applies first and foremost to professionals in the olive-growing sector, whether they be olive grove owners, millers or other agri-food and craft production companies whose main product is olive oil. These professionals are themselves in contact with those involved in the development of tourism, i.e. agents from the inter-communal tourist office, excursion organisers, museum staff and shopkeepers, who market the products or relay the commercial and cultural offer of the olive-growing sector to the tourist public. Finally, we are also looking at a more distant sphere of stakeholders who are not directly linked to the olive sector or its promotion, but who communicate with tourists and are therefore likely to use the olive and its representations: estate agents, restaurants, local shops, leisure activities, etc.
8In order to analyse the forms and presence of the olive images in the construction of the area's tourist identity and to infer the underlying iconic messages, we will begin by presenting the olive tree as an emblematic crop of the Alpilles, before looking at the diffuse spatial presence of the olive image and the way in which this ultimately leads to a diversion of the original product, disconnected from its cultural and economic reality.
9With 9,692 inhabitants in 2020, Saint-Rémy de Provence is the largest town in the Alpilles area. Its development in the 19th century was strongly linked to the boom in agricultural activity, but also to its appeal to artists and intellectuals, who made it a favourite holiday destination. Vincent Van Gogh spent a year there in 1889-1890, painting many pictures of olive trees.
10It lies at the heart of a small area of Provence, between the Luberon and the Camargue, which today encompasses fifteen communes on either side of the Alpilles massif, grouped together since 2007 in the Regional Natural Park of the same name. Olive trees have been grown here for a long time, with evidence of oil production dating back to the 2nd century BC at Glanum, in installations that suggest large quantities of olives had to be processed (Brun, 1985). As was the case throughout Provence, olive growing really took off from the seventeenth century onwards, reaching its peak in the nineteenth century before declining considerably throughout the twentieth century. However, as Claudine Durbiano (2000) notes, "olive trees still often exist in the form of a relict landscape (untended olive trees) or a fossil landscape (abandoned olive trees), (...) while functional olive-growing landscapes are limited". As Stéphane Angles, Étienne Grésillon and Paul Minvielle (2017) point out, "it is therefore not surprising that olive-growing landscapes should have a prominent place in the first landscape preservation and enhancement directive issued by the Alpilles Regional Nature Park in 2007."
11Since the olive tree has not disappeared from the landscape, and the Alpilles has been less affected by the decline than other production areas in the south of France, the activity resumed strongly at the turn of the 21st century. In 1997, the Alpilles was France's leading olive-growing region, producing 20% of its oil and 15% of its table olives, and had been awarded two PDOs for the Baux-de-Provence valley, one for broken olives and the other for olive oil, with a blend of local varieties, Salonenque, Béruguette or Aglandau, Verdale and Grossane (Durbiano, 2000).
- 6 This farming activity is concentrated in the south-east quarter of France, from the south of the Au (...)
12Today, in terms of cultivated areas, the main crops grown in the Alpilles are arboriculture and olive growing (30% of the Utilised Agricultural Area), livestock farming and Crau hay growing (24% of the UAA) and field crops. Olive-growing is the main agricultural activity here, in the heart of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, which is itself France's leading olive-growing department. With 10,000 hectares of olive trees alone (7,000 of which are grown by amateurs), it accounts for a third of France's olive oil production, mainly in the Aix-en-Provence terroir and in the Alpilles (FranceAgriMer, 2022)6. The mainstays of the Alpilles economy are tourism (which alone accounts for 10% of jobs), public works and agriculture, which cover 40% of the territory (Insee Analyses, 2019).
- 7 "La clientèle touristique du Parc naturel régional des Alpilles", Survey of tourist clientele - CRT (...)
13Given the economic importance of the olive tree and tourism in the Alpilles, we need to look at the development of olive tourism in the area, and in particular in the commune of Saint-Rémy de Provence. Today, Saint-Rémy de Provence is mainly focused on tourism, and luxury tourism in particular. It is a popular holiday destination for a wealthy clientele, and by 2020 will have almost 22% second homes (INSEE, 2022). As in the Alpilles as a whole, there is an over-representation of foreign tourists compared with the rest of the département (17% in the Alpilles, compared with 13% for the département as a whole)7.
- 8 "The winegrowing sector has clearly understood this advantage and many estates have decided to pres (...)
14Saint-Rémy de Provence is less famous for olive than other towns in the region, such as Mouriès, with its well-known September festival and trail, or Maussane, which has a famous cooperative mill (Cornille). However, it has the only agricultural college in the area specialising in this type of production. There are also several major olive-growing estates in the area, some of which also grow vines: the Mas des Figues estate (Philippe Michelot), the Métifiot estate, Château Romanin and its four hectares of local varieties, and the Mourre de Viret estate. Olive oil appears as a secondary product, but acts as a "top-of-the-range guarantee", in a way that is recurrent in Provence8. On the other hand, there is only one working mill in the commune, the Moulin du Calanquet, and one soap factory, the Savonnerie Glanum.
Figure 1: Moulin du Calanquet, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
15We have tried to identify as systematically as possible the multiple presences of the olive tree, whether real or conveyed by images, throughout the commune. As Stéphane Angles (2012) reminds us, and as we shall see here, "by evoking the olive tree, we are clearly in the ideal field as much as in an objective reality". We therefore surveyed the landscape, urban, media, commercial, toponymic and cultural presence, always trying to infer iconic messages from these different forms of presence, as the olive tree is "a bearer of many values" (Angles, 2012).
Figure 2: Olivette at Saint-Rémy de Provence, winter 2021.
Photo: Julie Deramond
- 9 Interview with Ingrid Caceres, conducted by Louise Wenzler, Melssa Selam and Madeleine Damongeot, o (...)
16As soon as you enter the town, olive trees seem to be everywhere. Fields of olive trees give way to little olive groves and scattered olive trees in the gardens. At the front of houses and swimming pools, or lining driveways as an invitation to enter, it is used as a symbol of elegance, luxury and even idleness. A decorative olive tree can "add real value to a plot of land or a house"9. "The shades it produces and the silvery reflections of its foliage are all aesthetic elements that make it a central part of the post-modern landscape setting that unites inhabitants (primary, neo, secondary, etc.) and visitors alike" (Bachimon, 2023, p. 67).
- 10 According to France Agrimer's latest industry report, published in November 2023, just under half o (...)
17This landscape function is not just aesthetic and financial. It is also essential to the olive-growing sector, where a large proportion of production comes from amateurs who own a few olive trees in their garden10 and "combine a decorative vision with a productive orientation" (Angles, 2017). These amateurs "include an extremely varied population ranging from simple owners of a few trees, concerned with harvesting their olives to make their own oil, to owners of vast olive groves who see this activity as a leisure activity, a family heirloom or a source of embellishment for their property" (Angles, Grésillon, Minvielle, 2017). Many of these new inhabitants or second-home owners "put down local roots by cultivating it", taking the olive tree as an "emblem of Provençal rurality" (Perrin, 2005).
Figure 3: Olivier on a balcony, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
18"Having become part of our heritage, the olive tree has left the hillsides for the roads and the city" (Lieutaghi, 2023, p. 11) and we find it in squares, in streets and on balconies. Except in olive groves or to line driveways, the most common sight is the isolated olive tree, a real eye-catcher. The symbol of this is of course the olive tree on the roundabout, in a context where "roundabouts are part of contemporary urbanity, to the point of being spontaneously perceived as one of its essential components" (Alonzo, 2005). As Stéphane Angles, Etienne Grésillon and Paul Minvielle (2017) point out, "these olive trees do not correspond to local varieties and are more or less maintained, not to produce, but to obtain an appearance that is considered venerable and traditional". They are regularly combined with cypress and/or lavender. As Jean-Yves Durand (2006, p. 171-172) points out, "we know that the repetition of the elements in this series, singly or in combination, has long made them ornamental clichés". Even more than in the gardens, it is the decorative tree that has come to "impose itself as one of the trademark images of the 'South of France'" (Durand, 2006, p. 172).
Figure 4: Olive trees on a roundabout, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
19The olive tree has thus been adopted by the city: it is a tree of urbanity, while already being the identity marker of a territory. The image of the olive tree has taken hold in places we might never have imagined. The branch becomes a decorative motif on rubbish bins, while photographs of olive groves are displayed on imposing glass containers... In this way, it reenchants and sublimates trivial places.
Figure 5: Landscape with olive trees on containers, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
20A little further on in the town centre, the olive branch can also be seen on street numbers and numerous signs pointing to estates and mills. On a commemorative plaque, a branch refers to one of the well-known symbols: the olive tree as a place of peace and immortality, summoned after the horrors of the Second World War. The olive tree is as much a marker of the land as it is a bridge between the past and the present, part of the timelessness of memory.
21In the field, we found other, more prosaic uses in shops, which testify to this diffuse but very real presence: in many of the city's shops, whether or not there is a direct link with the product. Repetition plays a part in reassurance (Boutaud, 2019), matching the tourist imagination with its most immediate symbols.
22Of course, there are plenty of olive-related shops in the capital of the Alpilles, catering for locals, second-home owners and tourists alike. Several producers' shops and delicatessens (the Moulin du Calanquet shop, Délices du Luberon, Maison Brémond and Entre Sel et Terre) offer the product in a variety of forms: brine, tapenades, bottles of oil, potted plants, etc. This is all the more important given that, according to the principle of incorporation, "I am what I eat" (Fischler, 1996, p.1): "by eating a food product emblematic of a region, we symbolically incorporate the image that this product represents" (Salvador, El Euch, 2020).
Figure 6: Small decorative olive trees on the Savonnerie sign, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
23The town is also home to several shops specialising in the sale of Marseille soaps made in the region and traditionally characterised by a 72% oil content in their manufacture, such as Les Sens Ciel and Savonnerie de Provence. "This "return to the tastes of the land" is now a lever for local development and is helping to revitalise rural areas, both from an economic point of view (enhancing the value of agri-food and craft resources, mobilising projects) and from a socio-cultural point of view (process of collective reappropriation, building social links and identities...)" (Bessière, Poulain, Tibère, 2013, p. 76).
Figure 7: Olivier in front of a delicatessen, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond.
- 11 "Souvenirs are an essential part of the tourist experience (Urbain, 1991; Amirou, 1995). Through th (...)
24More specifically for tourists, we should mention the many items sold in tobacconists and press and tobacco shops, which are multiplying their offers of postcards, placemats and other magnets, accompanied by regional books on olive growing or Provençal cuisine. Souvenir shops were also expanding their range, offering "Provençal" souvenirs that went beyond the Alpilles and as far as Nyons: for example, the scourtins (from La Scourtinerie, in Nyons) that sit next to the tablecloths and accompany the jugs, ashtrays and tote bags decorated with olives and/or olive branches and recognisable by their golden yellow or olive green colour, which can be associated with the famous ceramic cicada studied by Jean-Louis Fabiani (2006) and manufactured as far away as China. The place of these many objects on sale is not insignificant. It's true that they place the olive at the heart of a hic et nunc tourist offer - still promoting that dreamy, imaginary South of France that satisfies the (stereotypical) tourist in search of stereotypes (lavender lovers!) - but it's a long-term project. These multiple products extend the journey, bringing the elsewhere into the home11. The olive already has the gift of ubiquity. It perfumes the home, nourishes the skin, brings sunshine indoors and brightens up dishes.
25These objects are representative of the Provençal souvenir intended to be taken home to family or friends. "When found on the market or in a shop, the tourist souvenir is a product at the heart of an economic transaction between the retailer and the buyer. By becoming a gift, it leaves the commercial sphere and takes on the form of a social issue, a medium for exchange between two individuals. It loses its monetary value in favour of those generated by the ritual of giving" (Fourcade, 2005). From then on, these objects are already "small heritage objects, transmitters of life, [that] weave an affective, warm and moving network between people" (Bonnet-Carbonnel, 2008, p. 12).
26But the olive and the olive tree can also be found in shops and businesses that take it as their emblem, as much for the values it conveys as for its intrinsic qualities. Design and furnishing boutiques and estate agents alike use the same stereotypical olive image as a symbol of a dreamed-of and fantasised-about South of France: lazing by the pool, the sun setting over the olive groves; images sublimated in decoration boutiques and in photography to sell Provençal houses. Less expected, pharmacies and parapharmacies, spas and spaces dedicated to well-being play instead on the image of the tree of life, with its multiple values of rejuvenation and eternity. This is the case, for example, of the Lafayette pharmacy.
Figure 8: Logo for the Lafayette pharmacy, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
27Bois et Tradition, which specialises in olive wood joinery and cabinetmaking (decoration, tableware, games), uses the olive tree motif for both primary and secondary purposes. The tree represents strength, tradition and durability.
Figure 9: Sign for Bois et Traditions, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
28Less directly, the tree and the olive image can still be seen on the shop fronts and flyers of fashion boutiques, shoe shops and hairdressers, in a display of quality, robustness and even durability.
- 12 Nurseries specialising in the sale of century-old olive trees include Provence, paysages, Méditerra (...)
29Not surprisingly, olive trees and images are also found in hotels and restaurants. Here, too, local and tourist customers come together. Bed-and-breakfasts and hotels are playing the olive tree card, inviting guests to enjoy a change of scenery and a Mediterranean experience. Several accommodations still come under its aegis : we have seen a “Mazet Les Oliviers”, a “Gîte L'Olivier”, a “Gîte Les Oliviers”, a house Le Clos des Oliviers and a luxury property, La Bastide de l'olivier... while the fig tree or lavender tree inspire just one accommodation each. The olive tree, even more so when it is a hundred years old (imported directly from Spain or the Maghreb12), is always the decorative asset that enhances the farmhouse, adding cachet to the new house: "the olive tree loses its productive function in favour of a decorative externality that contributes to a Mediterranean atmosphere that strongly enhances the landscape" (Angles, 2023, p. 59).
Figure 10: Entrance to Mas des Carassins, 2021.
Photo: Julie Deramond
- 13 Interview with Ingrid Caceres Interview with Marion Coq, living in Cavaillon, conducted by Camille (...)
30When it comes to restaurants, it's the olive and olive oil that are making their mark in the kitchen: on menus and à la carte menus, the olive branch features prominently, anchoring dishes in fresh, inventive Mediterranean cuisine. As Ingrid Caceres, Director of the Intercommunal Tourist Office, explains, local olive oil is a must on the table: in restaurants "in the centre of Saint-Rémy or in the Alpilles in general, eight out of ten have the little flask, either from the Calanquet mill, the Moulin coopératif de Mouriès or the Moulin des Baux de Provence. Everyone here uses local olive oil13. The consumption of olive oil is largely a question of identity, as the surveys carried out as part of Olive4ALL have clearly shown.
Figure 11: Olive tree on the edge of a terrace, Saint-Rémy de Provence, August 2023.
Photo: Julie Deramond
- 14 Tunisia has a special place in this ranking because of its wide variations in production.
- 15 In August 2021, April and May 2022.
- 16 Source: Marinella Katsilieri, The Routes of the Olive Tree, 2024.
- 17 The total surface area of olive trees cultivated in France by professionals will be 13,041 hectares (...)
- 18 The three main production regions are Occitanie, Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, plus C (...)
31The olive tree and its image seem to be everywhere in Saint-Rémy de Provence. So much so, in fact, that it seems to be over-exploited compared to the reality of its presence in the area. Although the Alpilles is one of France's leading olive-growing areas, we can only emphasise its low production, far behind that of the main producers (Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Morocco14 which, by 2020-2021, will account for more than 75% of world production, with the top three accounting for 95% of European production). French olive growing accounts for just 0.15% of world production, with just 50,000 hectares of olive trees and 4% of world consumption (FranceAgriMer, 2022). Despite its presence throughout the commune, and even at key points such as roundabouts and in a pot in front of the town hall, Saint-Rémy's olive orchard is small. This is in stark contrast to the omnipresence of olive groves in Kalamata (Greece), which is certainly the olive capital of the country, but which also boasts olive groves in the heart of the town and "seas" of olive trees on its outskirts, as attested by our latest field surveys as part of Olive4ALL15. In the Kalamata region of Messinia, there were 171,077 hectares of olive trees in 2017, out of a total regional area of just under 300,000 hectares16 , i.e. more than half. By way of comparison, olive trees will occupy a surface area of around 50,000 hectares in France17 in 2020 (FranceAgrimer, 2022) out of a total surface area of 55 million hectares18.
32Despite the strong commercial presence of the olive image, the cultural offer for both locals and tourists does not seem to be up to scratch. The olive tree certainly sells and is used to sell, but it is relatively poorly shared, despite a few attempts to do so. The Musée des Alpilles, located in the heart of the town, has a showcase dedicated to the olive-growing heritage, displaying objects from the past that are sometimes forgotten today, from scourtins to “consciences”19. The Parc Naturel Régional des Alpilles, for its part, is offering a "stroll among the olive trees”20 along the Via Aurelia between Eygalières and Saint-Rémy, passing through Château Romanin and the Mourre de Viret estate, before heading on to Les Baux. Paradoxically, however, it is not promoted on the Park's website or that of the tourist office. The economic stakeholders in the sector, isolated from each other, generally confine themselves to offering tastings, although the Calanquet mill goes further by also offering a chance to discover the varieties of olive trees and a tour of the mill. However, this form of agritourism has proved its worth, providing excellent direct sales to groups and individuals (Flanigan, Blackstock, Hunter, 2015). The Mas des Figues, on the other hand, combines olive growing with accommodation, but does not make the most of the more direct cultural offer that could be associated with it, such as an introduction to olive varieties and quality, tastings, picking or pruning... (from Gay, 2023).
33We note that the olive oil tourism offer is extremely weak, whatever the territorial scale chosen. For example, olive-growing tourism is absent from the regional strategic guidelines21 and the departmental guidelines22 , which simply state that the strategy specific to the Provence "brand" must be based on a quality offer around the arts of living (culture of taste, culture of the living and heritage). At municipal and intercommunal level, which are responsible for tourism development, this potential is also very limited, as can be seen from the offers made by the Alpilles Provence Intercommunal Tourist Office. There is just one offer for groups, available to individuals and schoolchildren, which includes harvesting in an olive grove and a visit and tasting session at a mill, possibly accompanied by a meal in a restaurant and accommodation.
Figure 12: Les Olivades group offer, Saint-Rémy de Provence Tourist Office, August 2023.
Photo: Pauline Grison
34As for individual tourists interested in olive growing, they are simply given a map of the mills and olive groves in the area, as well as leaflets on each of the mills.
35Surprisingly, this proposal contrasts sharply with the communication on the Tourist Office website, where olive oil is presented as one of the flagship products of the Alpilles. Several pages invite visitors to discover: "The green gold of the Alpilles", associated with an "art of living", "Broken green olives, a great classic in Provence", "Our olive growers". Finally, in terms of the general offer, both on site and on the website, wine still dominates olive oil by a wide margin, as the brochures available at the Tourist Office amply demonstrate.
36These observations highlight a twofold problem. On the one hand, there is a lack of thought given to developing and strengthening the existing offer. In fact, "agriculture can provide two types of experience conducive to involvement and education", particularly through "direct participation in agricultural activities" (Gay, 2023). For Ignacio Ruiz Guerra (2011, p. 32), olive tourism even provides an opportunity to discover the environment, the characteristics, the production method and the impact of olive oil on the society in which it is produced; but we also think we can discover the social dynamic created around the olive tree (exchanges, cooperation, festive events). In fact, the proposed olive tourism offer misses out on discovering the skills involved in growing olive trees (discovering and choosing varieties, pruning, landscapes) or the products linked to olive oil and its derivatives (crushing, making food and cosmetic products), for example, which would enable the tourist-consumer to take better account of the quality of a locally-produced product. This kind of teaching would be extremely useful in transmitting the information needed to understand the product: reading a label and knowing about quality labels such as protected geographical indication, knowledge of organoleptic qualities in terms of health and optimal storage conditions. In this way, inhabitants and tourists alike will be able to better understand the olive oil produced in the area and the reasons behind its price, all of which will contribute to more responsible consumption.
37So, while the orchards and traditional landscapes, the olives and the oils are promoted in communication brochures over and above the recurring motif of the tree, which is more prominent in commercial proposals, the variety of the cultural offer that could be associated with olive growing seems to be under-exploited, both for inhabitants and secondary residents, and for tourists. It seems that those involved in olive growing are not considering the media dimension of tourism, as highlighted by Jacinthe Bessière, Jean-Pierre Poulain and Laurence Tibère (2013, p. 76), which offers holidaymakers the opportunity to discover "products in their natural and cultural universe" (Poulain, 1997). The quality of this discovery can, after the holiday and once the tourist has returned to their usual living environment, encourage consumption of these products.
38On the other hand, there is a lack of a general, concerted strategy for structuring the offer, by the area's institutional tourism operators, which would enable them to "form a community" around this heritage, to make the most of it. During an interview, Ingrid Caceres made it clear that olive-growing is directly managed by the growers, depending on their agricultural constraints: "We can always try to develop it even further. But a lot is already being done by these people, the olive growers. These are people who work very hard, who spend a lot of time in their fields. So it can be difficult for them to have a good production and at the same time manage to add value to it.”
39This lack of strategy seems paradoxical, to say the least, given the expectations of tourists, as expressed by the same stakeholders. Ingrid Caceres, for example, seems aware of the added value that could be achieved by structuring an offer on a regional scale: "We have customers who are very keen to know why olives are grown here, on this land... The history... How does it work? When are they produced? When are they crushed? When are the olives picked? How does it work? It's all very interesting.” The cultural offer around the olive heritage is still in its infancy, and the cultural transformation mentioned by Laurent-Sébastien Fournier seems to be nuanced.
40This raises the question of whether this highly touristic commune in the Alpilles is explicitly promoting its olive tourism offer. Unlike the wine sector, tourism operators have not yet decided to develop integrated products and that no in-depth synergy has really been implemented. From this point of view, Laurent Sébastien Fournier's suggestion that the wine industry model could be copied (2010, p. 140) should be put into perspective, as the wine industry has far greater resources at its disposal and became aware much earlier of the benefits of promoting its gourmet heritage to tourists. What's more, the wine industry's offerings appear to be much more extensive and harmonised, and above all integrated by tourism operators. The cultural dimension, in particular, is widely promoted via a large number of museums dedicated to wine (Deramond, 2018).
41This research highlights the omnipresence of the olive tree and the images associated with it in the city - both as a marker in urban signage and as an adjunct in the promotion of products or accommodation - in a form of hybridisation, mixing informational and communicational discourse. At the same time, however, and somewhat paradoxically, we note a low level of cultural and tourist promotion.
42This twofold observation highlights the olive tree as a brand image, not only over-represented but also over-valued, a Provençal symbol, used for its high-end value, whether in terms of landscape or gastronomy. The images of the olive that are used do not say much about the olive heritage or the olive growing, but they do reflect an image of Provence built on values of quality and representations of the good life. In our opinion, all this is part of a form of misappropriation and exploitation of the image of the olive heritage.
- 23 We are also a long way from the ethnographic tourism described by Stéphane Angles (2012), which giv (...)
43All the images taken also reveal what is missing, i.e. images of mills, harvests, difficult agricultural work where immigrant labour is used extensively, as if the production process disappeared behind the promotion of a commercial and luxury product23, as can also be seen in many company museums (Deramond, 2017; 2018). The aim is not to present a panorama that is representative of reality, but to water it down in order to appeal more effectively to the tourist's imagination, and thus to seduce them.
44As a result, the image associated with the olive tree seems to be more commercial than heritage-related, and largely disconnected from reality - both in terms of its territorial presence and the difficulties associated with its production. We can describe this phenomenon as a "showcase effect".
45In this way, olive-growing products form part of what Stéphane Angles (2012) calls "baskets of goods" for the development of the area, based on the synergy effects produced by the combination of highly valued olive-growing production and other products such as wine, cosmetics or services such as accommodation. The region benefits not only from its environmental assets, but also from these baskets of goods in which the olive tree and olive oil appear as "flagship products". In this way, the olive tree "campaigns" (Perrin, 2005) for a wide range of products with no link to olive growing. It sells souvenirs, soothing creams, furniture, houses and holidays in Provence, as part of local marketing and communication strategies. The olive and the olive tree become a logo image, whose iconic value is hijacked for a target group of tourists and holidaymakers.
46Our hypothesis that the local stakeholders, and in particular the economic operators in Saint Rémy de Provence, misappropriate the imagery associated with the olive tree in order to activate an imagination in tourists (and perhaps also in local inhabitants) that can generate images charged with positive messages is therefore validated. These stakeholders over-emphasise the olive heritage, leading to a form of 'stereotyping' - to use Patrick Fraysse's words - of the images created for tourists. So the value of the olive tree in Provence lies not just in its intrinsic economic value, but in all the indirect benefits it can generate.
47From this point of view, we are witnessing a symbolic requalification (Fournier, 2010, p. 132), if not a symbolic 'overqualification' of the olive tree, which in our view is moving from a heritage register to a commercial register. For Sadorge, Chevallier and Morvan (1996 - cited by Fournier 2010, p. 136), this valorisation and commodification of the heritage of olive-growing products has become an essential lever for regional planning and development, and more specifically for the economic development of the town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. We can see this as a way of turning the region's olive heritage into a commercial resource for a tourist resort.
48As mentioned above, Davallon's celebration phase refers to the social reception of heritage. This process takes the form of activities meant to raising awareness : exhibitions, visits (in this case to farms or mills), festive events. It also takes shape in the sharing of experiences and the transmission of knowledge and know-how between stakeholders (in this case, those involved in olive growing). According to Jean-Louis Tornatore (2007), the aim is to ensure symbolic recognition, social appropriation and aesthetic and intellectual enhancement of the heritage. In this case, however, it is this phase that is lacking. The presence of the olive tree in the town of Saint-Rémy de Provence is expressed here more in terms of local development, various promotions and economic enhancement. The image of the olive tree is above all seductive, eye-catching and salesy, drawing on an iconic register that draws on values commonly associated with the olive tree (longevity, taste quality, therapeutic properties, conviviality, etc.); and idealised representations as markers of identification with the Mediterranean area.
- 24 Integrated offers: e.g. "taste" offer: visit to a mill / oil tasting and discovery / restaurant / c (...)
49It remains to be seen whether those involved in tourism are able to redirect this phenomenon, not only towards economic objectives, but also towards heritage enhancement objectives by strengthening the cultural offer; and whether they are in a position to trigger a synergy between all the stakeholders - tourist, economic, political and cultural. There are undoubtedly many resources available in the region to offer a more diversified and better integrated tourism offering24, capable of reaching out to inhabitants and tourists alike in a sustainable way.
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