Opening the company to visitors, a practice well established in the agri-food sector, can be the source of many advantages for the company, whatever its field of activity. This is the message conveyed by the Entreprise et Découverte association, which since 2012 has specialised in know-how tourism.
The association references nearly 2,000 companies open to the general public throughout France. All sectors are represented, including the graphic industries. You can visit companies as varied as Peugeot, Les Chantiers navals de Saint-Nazaire, le Moulin à papier de Brousses, or Papeteries de Clairefontaine.
With around 15 million visitors a year, tourism is growing and allows the younger generations to discover jobs they don't know about. The association also produces the Guide du routard national des entreprises in partnership with the Hachette publishing house.
A call for projects to develop know-how tourism in France
In 2020, the association won a call for projects launched by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in order to develop, qualify and promote know-how tourism in France over a period of 3 years.
Cécile Pierre, General Delegate of Entreprise et Découverte, explains :
"?Nous will work both on the emergence of new companies to support them in the process of opening up to the public, and both on the professionalization and qualification of the offer of the companies already listed.?»
The advantage of professionalization is twofold, it offers a more interesting return on investment for the company and a more interesting visit for the public, explains the association.
Enterprise and Discovery will also work on the promotion axis, both regionally and nationally. "?Nous want to make know-how tourism a fully-fledged industry known and recognized by tous?" says Cécile Pierre.
The association's ambition is that visits to factories and workshops should be part of cultural and tourist practices in the same way as visits to castles or churches.
In the graphic industries sector
To accompany the call for projects, Entreprise et Découverte has set up a grouping that brings together territories, regional tourism committees, and federations, including the Compagnie des chefs de fabrication de l'industrie graphique (CCFI).
"?L'objective is to bring together all the companies in the sector under a common umbrella.?» The association will carry out with ITAB a diagnosis on the sector in order to set up actions to develop know-how tourism in the graphic industries sector.
For printing plants, the challenges are many: developing a new profit centre, developing workers and know-how, but also promoting jobs to young people.
