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The operating grant for the tourism committee was approved by elected officials at the territorial council meeting held on Thursday, May 28. After lengthy discussions, eight council members (Xavier Lédée, Micheline Jacques, Marie-Angèle Aubin, Sylvère Gréaux, Diana Bourrel, Rudi Laplace, Fabrice Querrard, and Olivier Gréaux) voted in favor of a text revised through amendments. Seven voted against it (Bettina Cointre, Marie-Hélène Bernier, Maxime Desouches, Dimitri Lédée, Jonas Brin, Pascale Minarro Baudoin, and David Blanchard), while Cécile Rubino Tessier abstained and Malissa Lake, Francius Matignon, and Alexandra Questel, president of the CTTSB, did not take part in the vote.
The budget presented by Alexandra Questel was the same as the one that had been rejected on March 26 during the budget vote. However, as discussions and proposed amendments unfolded, changes were made to the subsidy. Initially slightly less than 1.9 million euros, the amount approved by the elected officials is 1.59 million. “I think that given the current makeup of the territorial council, this is a good outcome,” said the CTTSB president. “We will be able to continue working to protect our island.”
The main change: the fact that the organization of the Christmas Village has been taken away from the committee. The Territorial Collectivity will now be in charge of the event. A sleight of hand that reduces the CTTSB’s subsidy but not the amount the Collectivity must invest. “The most important thing is that the event continues,” comments Alexandra Questel.
Furthermore, the committee will not have the funds to “promote the island’s image” to travel agencies or tourism-focused media outlets. “It’s a shame we can’t implement this policy,” laments the CTTSB president, who notes, however, that this setback “doesn’t prevent the committee from continuing its work with its partner agencies.”
More importantly, Alexandra Questel says she is relieved that the budget impasse has been resolved. “Because there are real people behind this, with people working,” the elected official points out. “The real good news is that we’re keeping the tourism strategy, so we’ll be able to continue our work on the tourism model and how we want it to evolve, because today we really need to put an action plan in place,” she explains.
Ultimately, the CTTSB will therefore be able to continue operating. It will have lost one of its flagship events, the Christmas Village, which is now on the Collectivité’s calendar. The Collectivité will thus have control over the main end-of-year events. It remains to be seen whether the budget allocated to organizing the Village will see the same increase as that for the December 31 concert, which skyrocketed in 2025.
