‘Come as a visitor, leave as a friend’ is the motto of the International Greeters Association (IGA), a group of volunteers who show tourists around their town and/or neighborhood. In an industry that accounts for around 7% of France’s GDP, the non-commercial nature of these walks raises a number of questions about the discourses of tourism and heritage. From a relational perspective, our research focuses on the appropriation of cultural heritage by volunteers. Starting from the notion of tourist devices, this approach is put into perspective with the activities of the greeters, which are intended to be non-commercial. Based on the observations of volunteers involved in the Caen la Mer, Le Havre and Orne networks, the article proposes a dialectical analysis of the forms of appropriation in a dynamic of tourism of places and cultures through the sharing of experiences in common spaces.
Articuler tourisme et patrimoine : enjeux globaux et résiliences territoriales « Venez en visiteur, partez en ami ». Les pratiques Greeters au prisme de la mise en tourisme des lieux et de la dimension participative non marchande