ABSTRACT
In France, after workers’ rights to holiday remuneration became law, the government decided to develop national coastal planning. As a result, the Interministerial Task Force in Planning for the Aquitaine Coast (MIACA) was given responsibility for regulating land speculation and the uncontrolled development of coastal urbanisation in Aquitaine between 1967 and 1988. It initiated the creation of different types of tourism accommodation (the holiday village, tourism residence and second home), thus fulfilling the objective of tourism for all.
Fifty years on, it is worthwhile analysing how the touristic and social functions of these facilities have evolved, and more specifically, how they have progressed as regards not only the changes in tourism demand, but also the dual phenomenon of “littoralisation”, and “metropolisation” linked to the immediate proximity of the Bordeaux metropolitan area.
In this context, the present chapter will consider the implications of the hybridisation between tourism practices and new residential practices on the management of the real estate activities designed by MIACA. It therefore sets out to test the hypothesis that the social function of tourism accommodation created in the 1970s is in the process of disappearing. It will also offer insight into the process whereby tourism accommodation aimed at lowest income tourists is being converted into residential accommodation for wealthier inhabitants, or inversely, into homes for migrant families in search of a safe haven.
The methodology used involved gathering data from the Carcans-Maubuisson urban development archives. Semi-direct interviews were also conducted with the commune’s mayor and the current property managers of Les Grands Pins and Le Sextant. Finally, a comparison was made of the original 2009 urban development plan and the new plan from 2016.
