Can lowtech contribute to the resilience of tourism?

– Regarding accommodation, for example the development of tiny houses is part of this low-tech trend. In Concarneau, the Low-Tech Lab association has built a small house to live in a self-sufficient way.

The Empreinte & ERB Collective has created a 3D printed house made from reuse, bio-based, geosourced, or even recycled materials.

In detail, the insulation is based on 13,000 recycled plastic bottles, the low-carbon concrete walls, designed from recovered site waste, The paints are collected in waste reception centers, the soil extracted from the site is reused in local agricultural land and finally the site waste is recycled into aggregates to be transformed into concrete.

– In this low-tech approach it is also important to think about adjacent uses and therefore, for example, to question the notion of digital sobriety. This consists of reducing the impacts of digital or even limiting our uses, especially that of the internet. This digital sobriety is starting to be integrated into our businesses, in particular through the specifications for redesigning websites which are intended to be more sober or even minimalist: compressed images, less advertising, plain background …

In this respect, the MUCEM site is exemplary, and no doubt foreshadows the future of tourist sites. The general principle is to do less but better because it is simpler and more efficient, going straight to the point.

– Also part of this process of ” digital sobriety Another initiative is that of disconnected vacations. The stays “ digital detox Have been very successful in recent years. The explosion of the use of digital in the context of confinement has made it even more necessary for certain moments of disconnection, the fact of not being subjected for a time to smartphones and screens.

This allows the development of a disconnected offer, where the use of the smartphone is prohibited, or simply limited.

On this subject, La Tangente conducted a reflection on the Millenilas and the offer of disconnected holidays.

Millennials have the particularity of being very comfortable with technology while having known the world before. They therefore have a more critical relationship than Generation Z, who have never experienced life without the Internet or cell phone.

They associate this acute awareness of environmental issues with the requirements of their mental health. Hence the fact that more and more of them want to escape the digital overflow and favor new ways of traveling digitally sober and stays that favor human contact.

Likewise in this reflection, we see that Generation Y shows a desire to recreate links through a return to localism and to a community life. In this sense, we can quote ” the Mad Jacques », An immersive cycling adventure that combines user-friendliness and the D system, and which offers meetings with locals and off the beaten track.

– Regarding mobility and low-tech vehicles, we can look at alternatives to petroleum, agrofuels, methanization, hydrogen …. We can also consider the changes in uses that are emerging and integrate them into tourist offers such as pooling, “car sharing” But also, why not, consider ancestral means of locomotion and de facto low in energy such as the horse or the mule. And of course, favor the peak of low-tech, walking, but with bio-sourced, recyclable, or even biodegradable equipment.

There is also a sports shoe created by designer Emilie Burfeind, made from dog hair collected from grooming salons, which is used to print the top of the shoe with a 3D printer. In the same vein, the sole is made of mycelium. (on this subject, see the article Would you take a small piece of a plate to finish your fork?)

– Finally, slow tourism is part of the low-tech approach. For example, providers or destinations may offer services that integrate technologies while giving them meaning and a creative and unifying momentum.

As Ko Koens, Professor of New Urban Tourism (Rotterdam) underlines: “ low tech tourism is an area close to Slow Tourism and New Urban Tourism, where authentic attractions and neighborhood life are the main attraction “. Finally, a low-tech approach could be a way to put meaning back at the heart of one of the most intrinsically social activities that exist.

– To conclude this first exploration of the subject, it should be noted that the low-tech are anchored in the territory. Indeed, it favors local production, the short circuit and local resources, while promoting local activities.

This approach, which offers the development of technical solutions at the local level, cooperation between actors, producers and consumers, contributes to the resilience of the territories and can support the transformation of the tourism sector.