Two days before the big start of the Route du Rhum, Sunday November 6 in Saint-Malo, the mayor Les Républicains of the corsair city Gilles Lurtons believes that “all records have already been broken”. “Today we have exceeded 1.5 million visitors” and “there will certainly be 300,000 to 500,000 people” massed on the ribs on Sunday, he said this Friday on franceinfo. An economic impact of “several million euros” for Saint Malo.
INFOGRAPHIC >> Route du Rhum: the “Banque Populaire” trimaran explained by Armel Le Cléac’h’s team
franceinfo: Is Saint-Malo full for this weekend of the start of the Route du Rhum?
Gilles Lurton: Yes, Saint-Malo will fill up until Sunday evening. The moment of departure is always a great spectacle for the whole coast between the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and Cap Fréhel where the boats will turn a buoy on Sunday.
“Today we had a huge crowd. We can say that we exceeded 1.5 million visitors.”
Gilles Lurtons, LR mayor of Saint-Maloat franceinfo
For the start, Sunday at 1:02 p.m., there will certainly be 300,000 to 500,000 people who will gather on the northern coasts of Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d’Armor. All attendance records have already been broken.
Is a special security device in place?
Yes, it is particularly important. You know, when the Ultims, these speedboats, are launched on the water, nothing can stop them. It is therefore really necessary that the channel in which they pass up to the Cape Fréhel buoy be completely free of boats. There were already very important security measures at the exit of the lock with a large number of zodiacs to guide the boats. A whole perimeter is prohibited for pleasure boating. There will be this until Sunday morning since the exit of the boats will continue at each tide. There are 130 left to go. It will be a feat until Sunday noon.
What is the economic impact of these three days for Saint-Malo?
It’s much more than three days since we opened the village on October 25 and it hasn’t been empty since. We know that the notoriety of Saint-Malo is due to the quality of the climate we have here, to the landscape, and to the historical character of our city, but the Route du Rhum also contributes to this. It has been around for 12 editions and therefore 44 years and each time it gets even bigger. We are in the process of making an analysis of the economic but also environmental impact of the competition. It is of the order of several million euros.