Welcome Artisans: Immersive Stays With Producers And Craftsmen

Since the health crisis, the French have favored local stays within the country. However, tourists tend to flock to the same sites and coastal areas during the same periods of the year. For all vacationers looking for a more original and authentic experience, the Breton startup Bienvenue les Artisans offers the opportunity to spend a weekend immersed with local craftsmen and producers. Here's how it works.

What is the concept of Welcome Craftsmen?

Welcome Artisans is a Breton start-up that is reinventing the concept of travel by offering immersive stays with craftsmen and local producers.

Founded by Tifen Guiet, this fledgling company aims to promote local tourism that highlights craftsmanship, short supply chains, and the French terroir.

The platform welcomeartisans.fr, which launched in May 2023, currently offers stays in Brittany with a beekeeper, seamstress, peasant baker, eco-builder, comic book illustrator, and potter.

This concept is expected to soon expand to other regions and professions such as florists, glassblowers, or basket makers, for example. Those with a sweet tooth will be able to book an experience with a chocolatier or cheesemaker through this platform.

What do the Welcome Artisans experiences consist of?

On the platform bienvenuelesartisans.fr, you can book an experience that goes beyond a simple stay with a craftsman. It is about a true immersion in the daily life of your host to create connections, discover expertise, and leave with an exceptional souvenir.

The immersive weekends at Bienvenue les Artisans include:
• accommodation with the producer or craftsman;
• breakfast included;
• a creative workshop and the pride of leaving with the item or product you've made;
• sharing of tips for visiting the region.

At the end of this unique experience, the visitor leaves with their own handmade creation. Depending on the expertise chosen during the booking on the platform, it could be a ceramic cup, a wooden stool, homemade bread, or a jar of honey, for example...

The workshops offered are both an unusual experience and an opportunity to get introduced to exciting and often little-known professions. During this stay, anyone can try a manual activity with the view of a professional retraining and discuss with the artisan about their profession.

DIY enthusiasts take note: the platform bienvenuelesartisans.fr plans to soon offer stays to learn how to build a greenhouse or a tiny house (a small mobile and ecological house)!

What are the advantages of this concept?

Through these immersive experiences with craftsmen and producers of expertise, the startup Welcome Craftsmen supports craftsmanship and sustainable tourism in France. Partner artisans receive additional income and gain visibility to expand their customer base or more easily recruit apprentices.

The original concept conceived by Tifen Guiet allows visitors to live new authentic and enriching experiences. It offers an alternative to mass tourism and gives travel a new meaning, thanks to stays with a positive social and environmental impact on the visited territories.

Currently, some coastal areas in France and some famous tourist sites must take measures against overtourism as 95% of tourists concentrate on 5% of the spaces, usually at the same times of the year.

Conversely, the immersive stays offered by the platform bienvenuelesartisans.fr encourage a new form of tourist stay, less distant and less seasonal. According to the founder of this startup: “Travel is a source of discoveries and encounters, but also a tremendous opportunity to preserve local cultures and the environment.”

If this presentation has made you want to unpack your bags at a craftsman's place, all you need to do is book an experience on the platform bienvenuelesartisans.fr (link below).