Tourism Impacts &
Sustainable Developments Managing tourism at Mont St Michel

Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the Mont St Michel known as the 'Wonder of the West'. The island contains a Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and a village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic masterpiece, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site. The Abbey was turned into a prison during the days of the French Revolution, and needed to be restored before the end of the 19th century. With the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the structure, in 1966, a religious community moved back to what used to be the dwellings of the abbot

At the same time, as the abbey was developing, a village grew up from the Middle Ages. It flourished on the south-east side of the rock surrounded, by walls dated for the most part from the Hundred Years war. Shops, hotels and restaurants are still open today. UNESCO classed the Mont Saint-Michel as a world heritage site in 1979, and this mecca of tourism welcomes nearly three million visitors a year'

About 3 million people visit Mont St Michel each year. These visitors mainly arrive by car or coach and park on a causeway linking the small island of Mont St Michel to the mainland. The causeway is not natural and was constructed about 100 years ago. Mont St Michel is a 'honeypot' destination that attracts many people, so can become very busy. Car parks become congested near the site and coaches have drop their passengers as close as they can to the monument. This means that visitor management is an issue and can mean that not everybody enjoys their visit to Mont St Michel as much as they might.

Full Screen Evidence Log 1: 'The appeal of Mont St Michel.' Full Screen

You will now have scored the visitor experience based on the 10 images. Can you work out the total and average score?

Evidence Log 2: 'Quality of experience'

Many tourists from the UK visit Mont St Michel by car, often while travelling on to other destinations in France. UK tourists can take ferries from UK ports to ports in France. Research ferry routes between the UK and France to identify which three of the ports below are closest to Mont St Michel.

• Calais
• St Malo
• Cherbourg
• Dieppe
• Bordeaux
• Le Havre

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk www.condorferries.co.uk www.ldlines.co.uk www.southernferries.co.uk/index.htm
Evidence Log 3: Now complete the 'Visitor Experience' exercise in your Evidence Log