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“The massif is gradually being transformed into an amusement park!” On the summits of the Vosges, the influx of tourists worries environmental NGOs and threatens in places the quiet of protected wildlife, even if their visits are also a boon for the region. On this Sunday at the end of July, atop the Markstein massif swept by a cool wind, Dominique Humbert-Beretti points to the object of her ire: the large rail-mounted toboggan installed at more than 1,200 metres altitude.

This kind of equipment robs the Vosges of their naturalness, of their biodiversity and of their beauty, simply put, according to the head of the SOS Massif des Vosges association. Especially since the end of the Covid pandemic, the region has seen a rush of vacationers seeking nature destinations, mainly from the Grand Est, Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France, as well as from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Mass Tourism: Iconic Sites Under Pressure

“We host more than four million overnight stays each year, and when you add family or friends visiting, we approach ten million overnight stays; it’s a major lever at the economic level,” stressed last June the president of the Vosges Department Council, François Vannson. Tourism revenue represents nearly one billion euros. “In these times, one does not spit it out.”

But success has its downsides, when the famous Route des Crêtes is overwhelmed by sports cars, motorcycles, or lined with long queues of motor homes, and sites struggle to channel the flow of visitors. As for the Tendon waterfalls, which attract 120,000 to 130,000 visitors per year, i.e. almost twice as many as before Covid, the mayor Gérard Clément assures. Since 2024, the tourist offices have removed this site from their brochures to curb the influx.

When you are part of the instagrammable sites, that means you have little control, notes the mayor of the Hautes-Vosges commune of about 500 inhabitants. Besides the parking near the waterfall, he cites damage from foot traffic on the trails and by crowding. A visitation that is further amplified “by periods of intense heat”, when city-dwellers from Strasbourg, Colmar or Mulhouse come to breathe for the weekend.

Animals, collateral damage?

Wildlife also suffers. Not far away, in front of the Housseramont state forest, Louis-Michel Nageleisen speaks of a “continuous disturbance” of fauna. The culprits? “Blueberry and mushroom pickers, trail runners, or guides leading mountain excursions”, who do not always respect quiet zones for owls, lynx and other great capercaillies, laments the vice-president of the NGO Oiseaux-Nature.

The award-winning documentary “Le chant des forêts” by Vincent Munier, an ode to the Vosges’ wild nature, has also inspired image-hunting vocations, he tells AFP. These goings and comings can hinder the reproduction of species, in spring for birds, then in autumn for the deer, he warns.

New Solutions to Limit Tourism’s Impact

With the lack of snow linked to climate warming, ski resorts are turning to summer facilities – sleds, mountain-bike trails, or other group activities. The sector must develop a “quality tourism,” aimed at families, analyzes the president of the departmental council.

“We have a lot of people in the summer, it’s normal and fortunately because it’s what also keeps the territory alive,” notes Blandine Jonard, deputy director of the Gérardmer tourism office. And thanks to visitor counters installed since 2022 at the sites favored, the office can advise tourists in real time and offer an alternative when the place they aim for is saturated, she points out.

At Tendon’s little waterfall, things are going to change: from 2027, visitors will be able to park only in parking areas outside the site, from which they can reach it after a short hike. No more “two or three selfies or photos, then back into the car, and off”, says the mayor. All that is sought is “a somewhat gentler tourism, a bit more discovery, a quieter experience.”