Innovative Sustainable Destination

In June 2023, Tours Loire Valley Destination was awarded the Sustainable Innovative Destination label. This new label, created by the France Congrès et Evénements network, aims to unite the players in a destination's business and leisure tourism sector and encourage them to strengthen their commitment to sustainable development. Tours Événements, which is piloting the initiative in Touraine, has brought together a number of organisations, including the Tours Loire Valley Tourist and Convention Bureau, to work together on this project for the destination, encouraging local tourism, for example, or promoting sustainable purchasing, reducing the use of single-use products, etc.

As a player in the local tourism industry, you too can get involved in this collective and collaborative approach alongside Transdev, Touraine Hôtels, le Clos Lucé, Tours Métropole, Ville de Tours, Agence Novabox, Terres du Son, CCI Touraine.

To find out more and access the form, click here.

Committed to sustainable tourism

Since 2021, the Tours Loire Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau has been involved in the "Together for Sustainable Tourism" initiative run by the Centre-Val de Loire Region. The aim of this support for the ecological transition offered to tourism operators by the Region as part of the Tourism Recovery Plan is to develop practices and offerings in line with customer expectations in terms of sustainable tourism. Following an environmental audit carried out by Betterfly Tourism, we are following an action plan to improve our practices and minimise our impact on the environment.

Corporate Social Responsibility

This commitment to sustainable tourism is now reflected in the company's CSR approach. We have drawn up a CSR strategy for 2023 - 2025 incorporating the 7 central questions of ISO26000. The main themes of the work currently in progress are as follows:

• managing the approach collectively
• involving all employees and raising their awareness
• building a sustainable purchasing policy
• measuring and analysing to reduce environmental impact
• measuring and analysing to improve quality of life at work

As 2023 is the starting point for the implementation of the approach, we will report on the results obtained in 2024.

Sustainable Tourism Players

Since 2020, the Tours Loire Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau has been a member of the Sustainable Tourism Players network. We share the idea that tourism should contribute to understanding and respect between people and societies, be a beneficial activity for the host regions and communities, be a right for everyone that contributes to individual and collective fulfilment, and should take into account environmental, climate and biodiversity issues.

With this in mind, we are working towards more sustainable tourism through exchanges with experts, so that we can continue to develop our actions towards sustainable tourism.

Tourism & Handicap

Accessibility to leisure activities and holidays for all is essential, and that's why we wanted to make a commitment through the Tourisme & Handicap state mark, which is awarded to tourism professionals who have an adapted, quality approach to receiving visitors with disabilities.

In order to be able to welcome all our visitors, we have worked to obtain the mark for our Tours and Villandry reception offices. The Tours office was awarded the mark in 2012 for all 4 disabilities: motor, mental, visual and hearing. Then in 2019, when the Villandry office was transformed, the reception of people with disabilities was taken into account in the specifications, and it was awarded the mark for 4 disabilities as well.

A hearing aid, a document presenting the city in Braille and a document with enlarged characters are available at reception.

In Tours, there is a parking space reserved for people with reduced mobility in front of the Tourist Office, and the nearest adapted public toilets are at Tours SNCF station.

Many of the region's service providers have also been awarded the Tourisme & Handicap label. To make sure that our visitors with disabilities are well looked after, or to help them with their research, we have produced a special document on the tourist attractions on offer.

To consult the list, click here.

Accueil Vélo label

Tours is located in an area that is very much geared towards cycle tourism. Positioned on the route of 4 major cycle routes (Loire à Vélo, St Jacques de Compostelle, Scandibérique, Eurovélo 6...) we receive many visitors by bike. These visitors have very specific needs that we can meet. The Tours and Villandry reception offices have been awarded the Accueil Vélo label, which guarantees a high-quality welcome and services along cycle routes for touring cyclists. Our reception offices have held the label since 2009 in Tours and since 2010 in Villandry.

We therefore offer the following services at these reception offices:

• cycle parking
• drinking water and toilets on site or nearby,
• useful information for your cycling holiday (train and bus timetables, etc.),
• weather forecasts,
• cycling advice and literature,
• light repair kit,
• possibility of booking accommodation or taxis