User:Szmenderowiecki/sandbox/Touquet

"Paris-Plage" redirects here. For the artificial beaches in Paris, see Paris-Plages.

For the treaty between France and the UK, see Juxtaposed controls § Ferry.

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
Commune
Beach of Le Touquet
Coat of arms
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
Coordinates: 50°31′07″N 1°35′42″E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Montreuil
Canton	Étaples
Intercommunality	CA Deux Baies en Montreuillois
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Daniel Fasquelle (LR)
Area 1	15.31 km2 (5.91 sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Touquettois (masculine) Touquettoise (feminine)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	62826 /62520
Elevation	0–42 m (0–138 ft) (avg. 5 m or 16 ft)
Website	lestouquettois.fr (administrative), letouquet.com (tourism-related)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (French pronunciation: [lə tukɛ paʁi plaʒ]), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (/lə tʊkeɪ/), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of 4,213 (2021), but welcomes up to 250,000 people during the summer. Located on the Opal Coast of the English Channel at the estuary of the river Canche, the commune is one of the most renowned seaside resorts in France, with a wide range of sports and leisure activities.

The name "Le Touquet" has been attested since the mid-18th century to designate the cape next to which the town was built. The settlement was founded as Paris-Plage in 1882 by Alphonse Daloz, a public notary in Paris who had already planted a forest and built a small palace in the area. Ten years later, John Whitley, an English businessman, saw a lucrative opportunity to build a resort for (mostly) English and French elites. His first endeavour, "Mayville", failed as the company behind it announced bankruptcy, but on the second try, Whitley bought the coveted land and launched a construction boom in the village. This rapid expansion contributed to the government's creation of a separate commune in 1912. Numerous prestigious hotels were built, and at its peak of prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, the resort boasted the biggest casino in France by revenue, the Royal Picardy, an ultra-luxury hotel with a sparkling water swimming pool, and hundreds of villas. The bustling town had good transport connections thanks to a tram line and a narrow-gauge train line to Étaples, and, since 1936, a dedicated airport. Le Touquet was affected somewhat by the Great Depression but still remained popular with the British upper class. World War II, however, did not spare the settlement and brought destruction as the Germans deployed tens of thousands of mines and the Allies bombarded the resort in 1944. After World War II, the upper class mostly fled to the French Riviera, and property was bought up by well-off locals.

Only part of the architectural heritage of Le Touquet was left intact, but a number of unique villas still evoke the seaside architecture of the interwar period. 21 buildings in the commune are protected as historical monuments. Le Touquet also has extensive natural heritage protection: the Canche estuary and some of the village's dunes are Natura 2000 sites, while the cape of Le Touquet is in the national natural heritage registry. Today, the commune is relatively rich and most of its population is retired. President Emmanuel Macron's spouse Brigitte inherited a villa in the town; therefore, the presidential couple often spends time in Le Touquet and votes there.

Etymology

Touquet

There are two theories as to the word "Touquet" in the name of this commune. The more prevalent explanation goes that the name derives from the Old French touquet, meaning a bend or a corner. Édouard Lévêque writes that in the Middle Ages, if a house was located around the corner, people would say it was located Template:Lang-fro, or, in modern French, Template:Lang-fr. This meaning was transferred to this area because at the time what is now the the easternmost part of Le Touquet and the village of Trépied was a cape. The warrens located on it were limited by the river Canche to the north and the English Channel to the west. The interpretation of "Touquet" being a corner found support in Flemish linguists analysing the names of the northern French coast. In fact, the Dutch name for Le Touquet is Template:Lang-nl. A 1982 publication about Le Touquet by the local scientific academy also agreed with this finding and added that this place is located on the extremity of Picardy, which could contribute to the name.

An alternative theory posits that Touquet is related to the words meaning "forest" and "wood". Auguste Longnon writes that there might be a possible connection between Touquet and toponyms such as Le Touchet, which themselves derive from words meaning "ornamental wood". Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing followed this theory, relating Touquet to toponyms such as La Touche (Tochia in 13th century) and Les Touches (Tuschiae in 14th century), to which a diminutive suffix of -ittum was added, which gradually became -et. A transition to a hard [k] sound was added to the resulting name, which is common in Normandy and Picardy. In their opinion, the word ultimately derives from a pre-Latin form meaning "grove" or "wood reserve".

First mentions of the word Touquet in the area appear in the 18th century. A map by César-François Cassini de Thury recognises the area as Template:Lang-fr. In 1764, a map by Jacques-Nicholas Bellin indicated that the name for the shoals of the river Canche was Template:Lang-fr. Ten years later, a hamlet of neighbouring Cucq was identified as Template:Lang-fr (lit. 'Toucquet Bad Women').

Paris-Plage

While the origins of the name "Touquet" are obscure, the "Paris-Plage" part is easily traceable. On 29 April 1882, Alphonse Daloz created the first subdivision within the area of Le Touquet and called it Paris-Plage. The name was coined by Hippolyte de Villemessant, editor-in-chief of Le Figaro, a daily newspaper in Paris. After his visit in October 1874, Villemessant wrote an editorial that commended the qualities of then-empty beach of Touquet. He described it as "more beautiful than that of Trouville" and that he wanted to make out of it an "Arcachon of the North". Both cities are renowned seaside resorts. Le Touquet, in his view, would resolve the "Paris-on-Sea (Paris-Plage) problem" for the people living in Paris - in other words, that it would become the destination of choice for Parisians looking for a beach resort. This name was first recognised by the French government in 1892, by order of Prime Minister Émile Loubet and the minister of the interior. The law of 28 March 1912, which separated Le Touquet from Cucq, further entrenched the name as the commune is officially called Le Touquet-Paris-Plage.

This part of the name, which is rarely used today to describe the commune, was subject of a naming dispute in mid-2000s with Paris. The French capital decided to launch Paris-Plages (then Paris-Plage) as a programme to create artificial beaches along the Seine in summer, trademarked the name and then demanded that Le Touquet cease and desist from using the Paris-Plage part for commercial purposes; Le Touquet submitted its own trademark covering the name the following year. In January 2008, Paris settled with Le Touquet, allowing the latter to retain its second part of the name unchanged.

History

Before 1837

The earliest traces of human presence in the vicinity of Le Touquet are estimated to be 240,000 years ago, based on the age of stone tools left by nomads near what is today Étaples. These human ancestors tended to live near the coast of the English Channel or in the valleys of Authie and Canche. Agriculture arrives in the area by 5th millenium BCE. By about 2000 BCE, the Canche was an established route for traders on the British Isles to go deeper into the continent. Strong human presence around that time is noted in archeological findings near the estuary of the river.

A significant Frankish trading post (emporium) known as Quentovic appeared in the early Middle Ages. Initially there was speculation that the port was located on the sea, near Étaples or Le Touquet (for example, Lévêque argues that it was located north of what is today the village of Saint-Josse), but excavations made in the 1970s and 1980s suggest that Quentovic is located further inland, in the village of La Calotterie. At that time, the territory where Le Touquet stands today was submerged under the English Channel, but sediments would accumulate over centuries and push the coast to the west. From 1168, the abbey of Saint-Josse owned the territories near Trépied and up to the sea. The ownership was confirmed in 1203 and 1624. At that time, Trépied was a fishing hamlet as well as a ferry station for those seeking to cross the Canche. Letters patent issued from the French king offered to plant beachgrass on the dunes to stabilise them.

In 1791, during the French Revolution, the abbey of Saint-Josse was expropriated and its lands were nationalised. The government then tried to sell the land, but Le Touquet's warrens were of little value, so no one had bought them by the time a local magistrate made an assessment of the lands in 1827. After the survey, the government offered to sell 1,500 ha (3,700 acres) in installments of 60 hectares, but had to wait until 1836 for the first offer. That year, a Belgian buyer called Doms agreed to buy a total of 1,600 ha (4,000 acres) of land for 80,000 francs (c. €252000 in 2022), but the sale was annulled because he failed to pay the promised sum. On the second try, the government found two new buyers, Alphonse Daloz and a Mr. Alyon, who agreed to buy the same land for 150,000 francs (c. €505000 in 2022). The deal was finalised on 25 April 1837.

Preparing for the property boom

Further information (in French): Canche Estuary lighthouse

Daloz's palace (1864), near what is today Place de l'Hermitage

The first semaphore of Touquet (1839)

At the beginning, Daloz and Alyon decided to convert the land for livestock farming. They briefly raised some cattle and sheep, but the idea turned unprofitable, so just after a year, Mr. Alyon sold most of his land to Daloz and two other people, Mr. Marion and Mr. de Naurois. These two new co-owners went on to grow rye, sunroot and potato crops and built a distillery, but the enterprise also failed to break even. Thus Alyon abandoned the area in 1847, while Marion and de Naurois ceded their plots in 1850 and 1855, respectively, to Daloz or his brother-in-law, Mr. Rigaud.

Two lighthouses built in 1852. Neither survived to this day - today's lighthouse is a replica

Daloz and Rigaud decided that agricultural use was no good for their land. They stabilised the dunes with beachgrass and decided to plant a forest instead. There was precedent for that: in 1780s, Nicolas Brémontier launched an experiment, with the king's permission, to plant a forest in the Gironde to stabilise the dunes there - the precursor to today's large Landes forest, and Daloz was likely inspired by it. The first saplings were destroyed by the harsh winter of 1860/61, so the two owners had to plant the trees again. Daloz was serious about keeping title to the land, so in 1864, he built a small palace. He put much effort into the forest, but because he was not a professional silviculturist, he made some mistakes, such as not thinning his forest well or often enough or insisting on not touching any of his "beautiful trees", whatever their condition. That said, Daloz's efforts received significant praise in an 1875 booklet by a local agriculturist. Visiting about the same time, Hippolyte de Villemessant, editor-in-chief of Le Figaro, was also impressed and coined the name "Paris-Plage" for the future development. By that time, Le Touquet had some decent infrastructure in place, which Villemessant took note of. In 1847, nearby Étaples was connected with Paris by railway. A semaphore on Cape Touquet was built eight years before that, and two lighthouses were inaugurated in 1852. The three buildings were necessary due to the treacherous nature of the Canche estuary, as dozens of ships sunk in the shoals near Cape Touquet.

Villemessant gathered a few of his friends and offered to buy the parcel from Daloz for a very high sum, but Villemessant's illness and subsequent death meant the idea never came to fruition. Afterwards, Daloz approached a former notary, a Mr. Billiet, to buy 3 ha (7.4 acres) of land for 35,000 francs per hectare (c. €124000 in 2022) for development purposes, but then the owner of the lands backed out at the last minute as he refused to certify the cession at a notary's office. Daloz decided to develop the area himself.

Beginnings of Paris-Plage

In 1880, Daloz contacted Raymond Lens, a local surveyor who made the initial design for the first subdivision. The construction was finished on 22 March 1882 and inaugurated on 9 April. Interest in the area appeared very quickly. Already in 1884, an entrepreneur from Boulogne launched a regular horsebus connection from Étaples to Paris-Plage. Also in 1884, the first hotel, Hôtel Saint-Georges, appeared in Le Touquet, but it became a simple villa with the opening of the first of the big hotels of the resort, Le Grand-Hôtel, in 1887. In the meantime, 1886 saw the launch of a dedicated newspaper for the community, Paris-Plage.

Charles Garnier's plan for Mayville in 1895. It would not come to fruition

A photo simulation of Mayville based on Garnier's plan, 1895

In the early years of Paris-Plage, the Daloz family (Alphonse Daloz died in 1885) exercised full police powers over the new settlement, but the commune of Cucq would gradually become more active in its life, holding the first hearing about Paris-Plage in 1886. Five years later, a garde champêtre was dispatched to Paris-Plage, thus sidelining the founders' family. On the infrastructure front, a macadam road to the settlement was unveiled in 1888, and a narrow-gauge tram line from Etaples was built in 1900. Administratively, a local landlords' committee and a road commission were set up in 1889 and 1894 to manage the affairs of the settlement and fill the gaps where state administration would not reach yet. The village expanded quite quickly: in 1894, it had 163 buildings, but this increased to 355 by the end of 1902. This included, among others, three hotels, seven restaurants and cafés, two pharmacies, two bakeries producing local bread, three butchers, a liquor store, a hairdresser's salon, a photographic studio, two bookshops, two coal depots, a public bath, a school and a church. By 1897, Le Touquet got its first casino, the Casino de la Plage. Most of the original residents came from Amiens, later followed by residents of Pas-de-Calais and neighbouring departments.

Mayville, an Anglo-French pleasaunce [sic]: its attractions and aims, a book advertising the grandiose plan of Mayville as proposed by John Whitley

The growth of the settlement attracted the attention of an English investor, John Robinson Whitley, who decided to launch a resort called Mayville. It was planned to be a "meeting place" between wealthy Englishmen and Frenchmen with an emphasis on sports, though the project was made more with the English in mind. The idea of a luxury resort itself was not new: Dieppe and particularly Deauville (next to Trouville), both in Normandy, were already developing in a rather similar way. Nor was the idea for a resort for the British a novelty, because Boulogne had already been a well-established contact point for Englishmen for more than 50 years. But this would be the first such resort in the area that would cater to the elites.

The Daloz were receptive to the offer but the price for the remaining 1,200 ha (3,000 acres) lot was too high for the English investor, so he decided to buy a smaller patch of land (3 km (1.9 mi) long and 500 m (1,600 ft) wide) to the south of the settlement. Charles Garnier, a renowned architect who was behind the Paris Opera and the Monte Carlo Casino, offered to build luxury hotels and a wide range of sports facilities. The resort advertised its relative proximity to London and Paris, but ultimately flopped. The locals opposed the construction as they feared that the new area would make Paris-Plage disappear, because of ownership by a foreign investor and because the train station would be too far away. Then in 1898, Anglo-French relations soured due to the Fashoda Incident, so the concept of amicable meetings between the countries' aristocrats lost relevance in the circumstances. Thus the Compagnie de Mayville Limited, which was to run the resort, announced bankruptcy.

The Daloz announced their intent to sell the remainder of their lands in August 1900, when they offered a price of 2.6 million francs (c. €11151000 in 2022) for their estate, itsĀ adjacent lands and areas they did not manage to sell yet (about 1,120 ha (2,800 acres)), but there was no one to buy it. They then lowered the price to 1.3 million francs (c. €5810000 in 2022) and then 900 thousand francs (c. €4065000 in 2022), to no avail. But after they offered their estate for 600 thousand francs, a bidding war started that Whitley won, offering 870,500 francs (c. €3932000 in 2022) at an auction on 16 December 1902. Whitley was short on funds and the cheque he gave to the notary would have bounced. But this being Saturday, Whitley had two days to find the money, which he did with the investment of Allen Stoneham. The cheque was honoured and thus Whitley got the land, which he transferred to Syndicate of Touquet Ltd., a dominant force in the village's development in the following decades.

The peak years (1902-1940)

The two English investors quickly proceeded to implement their plans for a luxury sports resort. Thus in 1903, Pierre de Coubertin was installed as the sports director of Paris-Plage, the role he held until 1906. The following year, he inaugurated the community's sports centre ("champ des sports"), featuring a running and cycling track, a cross country running course as well as facilities for fencing and lawn tennis. That same year, a horse racing course was opened, and it held its first international competition in 1905. Still in 1904, Prime Minister Arthur Balfour inaugurated the first golf course; an automobile racing club - cars were still a relatively new invention in those days - also started that year with 28 members. It was also in that year that first equestrian competitions, such as polo and steeplechase, started in the resort. By 1911, Paris-Plage saw the first land sailors roam its beaches, and a year later, a motorboat race was held on the Canche estuary. Land sailing still remains one of the specialties of Le Touquet. This is not to mention other sports such as cricket, archery and greyhound racing. Among the organizations that promoted and encouraged the development of sports assets was the Cercle Internationale du Touquet, organized by Stoneham, Coubertin as well as Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and some French aristocrats. Thanks to their efforts, Le Touquet was already hosting tennis tournaments by early 1910s, which included the 1913 edition, one of the first wins in Suzanne Lenglen's career.

Entrance to the casino and a distributor of Valroy water, as the municipality marketed it

For all the grand plans that Stoneham and Whitley envisaged, their ambitions were somewhat pared down by the involvement of French landscape architect Henry Martinet. He decreased the size of the resort so that it would bring more profit; the great railway station project was abandoned, as were the plans for oversized villas scattered in the forest. In 1905, Le Touquet launched its own water distributiion service from a (still active) underground source located about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) north of Étaples, but plans to launch a mineral spa facility had to be postponed because of World War I and were then abandoned. That said, the luxury resort was still developing at full steam. For a few examples, The Atlantic, one of the top hotels of Paris-Plage, opened its doors in 1904, followed by Golf Hotel in 1908. In 1903, the old Daloz villa was converted into a concert hall, and that became Casino de la Forêt ten years later. That place still serves as a gambling facility, today known as Casino Barrière. In the centre of the town, a new narrow-gauge tram line was unveiled in 1909, and an internal line servicing the golf club's customers opened the following year. In recognition of the fast development of the resort, a 1912 law split Le Touquet from the commune of Cucq, to which the settlement previously belonged.

• Luxury facilities in Le Touquet. The first seven hotels were of the highest category, hors-classe
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  Atlantic Hotel (built in 1904)
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  Grand-Hôtel (built in 1887), as portrayed in a magazine article from 1926
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  Hotel Hermitage (1904, rebuilt 1909), here in the rebuilt version.
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  Hôtel des Anglais (1904), as it appeared sometime at or before 1922.
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  A bird's-eye view of the Hôtel des Anglais as it appeared in an advertisement
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  Hotel Westminster (1924, expanded 1926), the only luxury hotel still in existence
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  A bird's-eye view on Hotel Royal Picardy (1929), by Louis Debrouwer and Pierre Drobecq
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  Golf Hotel (1908), as seen from the croquet lawn in 1911
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  An expanded Golf Hotel, as seen in the postcard sent in 1922.
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  Hotel Normandy (1924), as seen before its partial destruction by a fire in 1928
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  Entrance Hotel Regina, built in the 1920s
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  Casino de la Forêt (1913), as seen in a 1928 trade publication

Canadian ambulances queuing up at Golf Hotel in 1915. The first Canadian soldiers who arrived on French soil were those who set up a military hospital in this building.

The communal cemetery of Le Touquet has 142 graves of British soldiers in WWI (died November 1914 to April 1916), as well as some French and Italian ones

The breakout of World War I in July 1914 changed Le Touquet from a seaside resort to a wartime settlement. 6,000 Belgian refugees fleeing the Western Front settled in the commune, the municipal administration of the town of Ypres moved to Le Touquet, while emptied hotels became Allied forces' military hospitals with a total capacity of 3,400 beds. Some of psychiatrists there were instrumental in early research into post-traumatic stress disorder, as evidenced by the fact that Charles Myers first used the term shell shock in scientific literature in 1915, when he published a case study about three soldiers he was treating in a casino in Le Touquet. Nearby Étaples housed an enormous military camp for training and dispatching soldiers directly to the frontlines. Even though enlisted soldiers could go out with the garrison's permission to that town, entry to Le Touquet, a much more tempting attraction, was allowed for officers only so that the low-ranked couldn't spoil the recreation there. The bridge over the Canche had a military police ("Red Caps") checkpoint to turn away those of low military rank, but many soldiers smuggled their way to Le Touquet on low tide and clandestinely used recreation facilities that were reserved for officers. When in September 1917, a New Zealander soldier was caught by the military police crossing the Canche from Le Touquet, more than 1,000 soldiers stationed at Étaples, most from ANZAC, mutinied. In an indirect way, the facilities which British soldiers saw when recovering from wartime injuries at the resort encouraged them to return once the war was over.

Roaring Twenties were the time of highest prosperity for the settlement. Vigorous construction efforts continued and culminated in the construction of among the largest hotels in the settlement, Hotel Westminster (1924) and Hotel Royal Picardy (1929). The 500-room Royal Picardy was, as contemporary reviews had it, the "biggest, most luxurious hotel in the world", and boasted a pool of sparkling water. There were a couple of new facilities unveiled at the time. This included a new horse racecourse, unveiled in 1925. The tennis facilities expanded, starting from a humble three courts in 1904, through 11 by the time Le Touquet became a commune, to 30 courts at the dawn of World War II. A special tennis club building was unveiled in 1923. A new post office building that was architecturally similar to a church standing there before opened its doors in 1927. A swimming pool (1931), 66 m (217 ft) long and 25 m (82 ft) wide with depth varying from 60 cm (2.0 ft) to 5 m (16 ft), could accommodate up to 3,500 guests on its tribunes and included such features as four diving trampolines up to 10 m (33 ft) above the ground, purified seawater heated to 30 °C (86 °F), more than 500 cabins with footbaths, a massaging hot tub, a beauty salon, a laundry service, a restaurant, a cafe, a teahouse and a leisure room as well as a beach games room and a large parking. The commune was so rich that it covered all the expenses of building the new grandiose neo-Renaissance city hall (also opened in 1931, by architects Debrouwer and Drobecq) from one-year revenue from gambling taxes alone. This was possible thanks to the fact that in 1927 and 1928, Le Touquet had the biggest casino in France by revenue (45 and 58 million francs, or c. €31 and €40 million in 2022 values, respectively). Up to 90% of clients of the resort were British, most of them upper-class.

The Great Depression dealt a blow to Le Touquet's fortunes. Rapid population growth that defined the booming settlement since the 1902 Whitley and Stoneham deal ground to a halt. Interest into real estate dwindled, new projects and expansions were abandoned, and casino revenues never returned to pre-crisis levels. It also emerged from the crisis relatively unscathed as the people visiting Le Touquet were those who weren't particularly affected by the Great Depression and were among contemporary A-list celebrities, such as Noël Coward, the Prince of Wales (future Edward VIII) and Indian maharajas. A certain revival for the region came with the democratisation of leisure as the right to two-week paid leave was assured by the Matignon Agreements in 1936, but Le Touquet essentially remained an upper-class British resort. The main investments of the 1930s were the market pavillion in the town centre (1932) and an international airport that since its opening in 1936 has mostly served British customers.

• Le Touquet before World War II
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  Aerial view on Le Touquet in 1935. From foreground to background: Le Touquet, the horse racecourse, Étaples
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  Horse racecourse (1925), view on the spectator stands (centre-right) and the course (left)
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  Post office (1927)
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  View on the swimming pool (1931) with the diving tower (centre). Today it is a water park.
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  View of part of the indoor market building (1932)
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  Boat and yacht club facility (1934), as seen today
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  The international airport (1936), view on the ramp
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  Seaside buildings in a pre-war postcard
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  Pre-war view of the seaside promenade
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  Swiss Village (1906)
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  Tram line on the Rue de Paris, the primary business street of pre-war Le Touquet
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  Le Touquet (1913), a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner

World War II destruction

Theo Osterkamp, Generalmajor of the German Luftwaffe (right), celebrating his birthday on 15 April 1941 with fellow officers Adolf Galland (left) and Werner Mölders in Le Touquet. Osterkamp was commanding German air squadrons stationed at the Côte d'Opale region. The local headquarters of the Germans was located in the Royal Picardy.

German bunker (Blockhaus) south of Le Touquet, part of the Atlantic Wall

World War II started on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland, and Le Touquet again became a sanitary zone for the military. The city remained under French control for a very short time, as Germany launched an invasion of France on 10 May. The Royal Air Force squadron stationed in Touquet airport was destroyed, and by 15 May, residents of the resort started to flee. Six days later, two German officers entered the mayoral office and took over the government. There was little intrinsic military value for the seaside resort, but Nazi soldiers quickly introduced military occupation conditions anyway: curfew started at 21:00, all expatriate males had to report daily to the city hall, and Germans commandeered whatever real estate and vehicles they considered fit, without much possibility for resistance of legitimate owners. On 21 July, the Germans ordered all enemy male population younger than 60 (essentially the British) to be interned. This included writer P. G. Wodehouse, who had been living in Le Touquet since 1934. Jules Pouget, long-time mayor of Le Touquet and later senator, was arrested in May 1942 by the Gestapo for being an "enemy for the Germans".

Le Touquet became a de facto military garrison. From late May 1940 to 1944, more than 40,000 German soldiers occupied the town. Shortly after occupation, the Wehrmacht reinforced its presence in Le Touquet in anticipation of Operation Sea Lion, but the invasion of Great Britain never occurred. Still, the German armed forces set up their local headquarers in the town, as did the National Socialist Motor Corps and the Organisation Todt. Many Belgian, Dutch and Danish workers were housed in Le Touquet to build the Atlantic Wall. As a result of works on this fortification, the town was effectively sealed off from the sea by a 2.5 m (8.2 ft)-high reinforced concrete wall stretching from the Canche estuary and up to Atlantic Hotel at the southern end of the settlement; the ground floors and first floors of all buildings were walled up, and certain buildings, such as the bar near the swimming pool, were demolished. By 1944, the beach was littered with Czech hedgehogs, Rommel's asparagus rigged with explosives, Belgian gates and thousands of landmines; the neighbouring Rue de Paris, the primary business street in pre-war Le Touquet, was also extremely hazardous due to its concentration of explosive devices.

The Allies also had some military plans for the area. In 1943, they launched Operation Starkey, a sham amphibious landing in the vicinity of Boulogne and Le Touquet, but it failed to reach the intended goal of diverting German soldiers from other fronts to northern France. A second diversion immediately preceding D-Day landings, known as Operation Glimmer, had disastrous effects on the city. Over 2,000 bombs were thrown on Le Touquet in June 1944, and at least 51 people, including mayor Jules Pentier, died during the bombings, as well as an unknown number of Organisation Todt labourers. There were no casualties among children because they had been evacuated from the city in February 1944 to a somewhat safer region of Mayenne. German defenses thinned over the summer as Allied forces advanced in northern France, until the Wehrmacht finally abandoned the city on 4 September, but not before blowing up the two lighthouses from 1852 and the bridge over the Canche at Étaples. The Canadian army liberated Le Touquet the same day.

Demining activities in Le Touquet
A 1945 newsreel showing the extent to which Le Touquet was mined, just after Liberation. Courtesy Institut national de l'audiovisuel
A video from 2017 (France 3 Hauts-de-France) showing sappers neutralising and blowing up German explosives
A news report from 2022 (TF1) about another demining operation

The consequences for the resort were dramatic. The Germans demolished the Atlantic Hotel in 1943 for construction materials. During bombings, the Golf Hotel and the Hôtel des Anglais were destroyed beyond repair, while the Royal Picardy, the Grand-Hôtel and Hotel Hermitage were badly damaged and would eventually cease to be hotels. All villas were commandeered by the Germans for the duration of occupation, who caused losses in many of them, and many others suffered under Allied bombardings. There are different estimates as to how many explosive devices were left in Le Touquet, ranging from 92,745 through 106,745 and up to 137,950. Whatever the estimate, all of these sources cite Le Touquet as "the most mined city in France".

Post-war reconstruction

The pre-war architecture on the seaside

gave way to standard high-rise apartment buildings

Some buildings found second life, like Hotel Hermitage, when it was rebuilt as an apartment house (1968)

but others had to be demolished. In this case, motel houses were built in 1956 where Golf Hotel previously had stood.

The first post-war years were dedicated to reconstruction and mine clearing. By Pentecost of 1945, Le Touquet's beach opened to visitors, the first in Northern France, but the demining proved taxing. 78 people died and 155 were injured while demining the town within 3 years of Liberation. Many pre-war luxury buildings were destroyed. Out of the seven hors-classe hotels (see pictures above), Hotel Westminster remains the only pre-war luxury hotel still in existence: it also suffered heavy damage but it was repaired and reopened in 1946. The same happened with the swimming pool, which was reconstructed to pre-war specifications in 1950. The original two lighthouses were blown up, so the commune ordered to create a replica, unveiled in 1951.

Post-war Le Touquet experienced a dramatic shift in tourism. Whereas pre-war Le Touquet was an upper-class resort with overwhelming British presence, by 1965, a survey found that English visitors constituted a mere 11% of all visitors and none of the owners - most of the visitors (59%) were from Pas-de-Calais or Nord departments and a quarter came from Greater Paris region. This was because after the war, the English sold most of their houses, and this included many who lost the upper-class status after the war; Parisians, who constituted much of the remainder of pre-war owners, also gave up on the properties in Le Touquet. These houses found eager buyers in locals, mainly relatively well-off lawyers, doctors and company directors from small towns and cities in the region. Le Touquet was on low tourism development priority for the central government, which focused its efforts on the much warmer and sunnier resorts of the French Riviera instead. As that region already had a notable presence of elites and was becoming more accessible with better transport, the high society increasingly chose to continue their leisure on the Mediterranean coast rather than the English Channel. Thus Le Touquet, while still relatively successful compared to other beach towns in the North, became more of a regional point of interest rather than a national or international attraction. The echo of pre-war tourism trends remained in Hotel Westminster (and, to a lesser extent, three- and four-star hotels), whose customers still were rich British people arriving by plane.

In response to market pressures, the relatively small pre-war villas (most of which were rebuilt) were replaced by high-rise apartment buildings on the sea shore. In 1961, the first large scale residence, consisting of nine stories and 20 apartments, was built. Numerous other standard-issue high-rise constructions followed suit. A 2004 report was very critical of such development, saying that this caused the sea-front to become "denatured" and look like a "giant parking". In total, by 2020, only 16% of residences that exist today were built before 1945.

Meanwhile, the town, under the new leadership of Léonce Deprez, also saw a new strategy for the resort that was supposed to make Le Touquet an "all-year round resort". In 1974, Le Touquet opened a closed-air thalassotherapy institute. An enduro motorcycle race, today known as Enduropale, was first held in February 1975 with 286 participants. A flea market of antique items was launched for autumn. In the meantime, a vocational school for hotel-related occupations (Template:Lang-fr) was opened on the site of the Royal Picardy, whose reconstruction was deemed not feasible. This 1972 building was built to resemble a pine cone.

A new push for the city's development came in the late 80s and early 90s with the construction of the Channel Tunnel. The French motorway network (A16 autoroute) reached the settlement in 1994, which gave easy access to the beaches for Parisians. As for the English, they were increasingly going to France for shopping as exchange rates were favourable, but their share of ownership of houses remained low. The commune increasingly became populated by retirees, which, as of 2014, constitute more than half of the population of Le Touquet.

Geography

Le Touquet is squeezed between the left (south-western) bank of the estuary of the Canche river and the English Channel coast, in the western part of the Pas-de-Calais department in the north of France. It is in a coastal region that is frequently referred to as the 'Côte d'Opale' (Opal Coast), a name that evokes the iridescent reflections of the setting sun on the sea. Le Touquet is also located in the northern part of a natural region called Marquenterre. On the other side of the Canche estuary is Étaples, a local transport hub and the nearest railway station. The other neighbour of Le Touquet is the commune of Cucq, to which the town belonged before 1912. That commune includes another resort called Stella-Plage, directly south of Le Touquet. Significant towns in the vicinity include Boulogne-sur-Mer (38 km (24 mi) to the north) and Calais (70 km (43 mi) in the same direction). Among larger cities, Lille is 140 km (87 mi) to the east and Paris, in part the commune's namesake, is 240 km (150 mi) to the south.

Landscape

Dunes near Pointe du Touquet

The Canche estuary at low tide, as seen from Pointe du Touquet

Dunes to the south of the town

Le Touquet has benefited from favourable dune creation conditions and a positive sediment balance from sediments carried by the Canche. For hundreds of years, sediments from that river accumulated to the southwestern bank, which enlarged Le Touquet, while the northeastern bank has been retreating. The main vector of land accumulation today is the Banc du Pilori, to the north of Pointe du Touquet. That accumulation may sometimes cause problems because it makes the estuary shallow and forces the river to meander, with the potential to jeopardise commercial activity of the port of Étaples and Le Touquet's marina if unregulated.

The Atlantic coast beach, stretching for more than 12 km (7.5 mi) north to south, is almost fully covered by dune zones stretching several hundred metres inland. The Opal Coast has good conditions for their formation: winds predominantly blow from the west directly at the coast, the beaches and the bottom of the estuary are made of fine sand and psammophile plants are willing to colonize the areas, thus strengthening the dunes. It was not almost the case, as during the Little Ice Age, the few plants that managed to set roots in sand were unable to counter erosion due to storms, seawater flooding or sand being blewn off by wind. The exception was the stretch between Berck and Merlimont, which could sustain forests and so dunes existed there. Alphonse Daloz's planting of a forest near Cape Touquet had a large role in creating and stabilising dunes in Le Touquet, while also adding much recreation value to the future resort compared to the rabbit warrens that were considered at best worthless and at worst a danger for nearby inhabitants.

The dunes around Le Touquet are in generally good condition. A 2001 study found that on the length of 3,015 m (3,297 yd), on 62% of the stretch, the dunes were accumulating sediment beyond the margin of error. Most of the area where the balance of accumulation was negative (8% of total study length) was located immediately near the station. The pattern is long-term: German blockhouses built as part of the Atlantic Wall during World War II were at the top of the dunes when new but the dunes have since risen by several metres, obstructing the view of the sea for inland structures and leaving them below the most desirable point (at the dune's peak) for seaside military buildings. Several factors cause concern for the integrity of the dunes, such as large tourist traffic and the annual enduro race.

Environmental protection

Four ZNIEFF natural heritage areas span Le Touquet; they cover its dunes, its forests and both its marine and estuarial environment

Several authorities monitor the environment around Le Touquet. In 2005, the European Commission designated the estuary of the Canche river as a Natura 2000 site under the Birds Directive. Since 2008, a wider site that includes all of the coast of Le Touquet and covers the Canche, the Authie and the Somme estuaries, the shoals and the dunes between them, protects five distinct habitats under the Habitats Directive. A land-based site created in 2002 (also under the Habitats Directive) covers, among others, the dunes in the south-western part of the commune; some of those dunes were bought out in 1982 by the Conservatoire de littoral, a French government agency tasked with preserving coastal areas.

On the national level, the Pointe du Touquet, at the northern extremity of the commune, is protected as a conservation area (site classé) for its dunes and the banc du Pilori, as established by a ministerial order in 2001. Two years earlier, the Commission supérieure des sites, perspectives et paysages, a central government body tasked with designating protected sites, advised to create the protected area status for Pointe du Touquet specifically to prevent new construction projects planned there. Since 2012, the area is further protected by national legislation as Parc naturel marin des estuaires picards et de la mer d'Opale, one of the eight French marine parks that, in this case, cover most of the eastern English Channel coast. That area also presents particular interest from the geological perspective as among the three "Picardy-type" estuaries (that of the Canche, the Authie and the Somme), only the Canche's is not built up and is allowed to develop on its own; thus it is also monitored on this level.

[1]

Climate

The weather station of Le Touquet was opened in 1947. According to the 1991-2020 climate normal, the settlement has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen classification: Cfb). In comparison to France as a whole, Le Touquet features a relatively cool, rainy and cloudy climate. Winters are generally mild, humid and cloudy, and summers are warm. Precipitation is almost uniform throughout the year, but there tends to be more significantly more rain in the last three months of the year. The hottest temperature ever recorded was 39.9 °C (103.8 °F) on 19 July 2022; the coldest recorded conditions were on 8 January 1985. Météo-France predicts that by 2050, expected effects of climate change on the commune will be increased temperatures in all seasons (particularly autumn), increased fire and heatwave risks, as well as some changes of precipitation patterns towards fewer days with stronger rain.

Climate data for Le Touquet (Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport), 1991−2020 normals, extremes 1951−present
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	16.7 (62.1)	19.3 (66.7)	23.2 (73.8)	25.5 (77.9)	31.4 (88.5)	34.6 (94.3)	39.9 (103.8)	36.4 (97.5)	31.2 (88.2)	27.1 (80.8)	19.8 (67.6)	16.4 (61.5)	39.3 (102.7)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	7.6 (45.7)	8.2 (46.8)	10.9 (51.6)	14.1 (57.4)	17.2 (63.0)	19.7 (67.5)	21.4 (70.5)	21.9 (71.4)	19.5 (67.1)	15.8 (60.4)	11.3 (52.3)	8.2 (46.8)	14.6 (58.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	5.1 (41.2)	5.3 (41.5)	7.5 (45.5)	9.9 (49.8)	13 (55)	15.6 (60.1)	17.6 (63.7)	18.0 (64.4)	15.6 (60.1)	12.4 (54.3)	8.4 (47.1)	5.7 (42.3)	11.2 (52.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	2.6 (36.7)	2.4 (36.3)	4.0 (39.2)	5.6 (42.1)	8.7 (47.7)	11.6 (52.9)	13.8 (56.8)	14.0 (57.2)	11.6 (52.9)	9.0 (48.2)	5.6 (42.1)	3.1 (37.6)	7.7 (45.9)
Record low °C (°F)	−19.1 (−2.4)	−18.2 (−0.8)	−8.9 (16.0)	−4.5 (23.9)	−2.2 (28.0)	−0.4 (31.3)	4.0 (39.2)	3.9 (39.0)	1.8 (35.2)	−3.8 (25.2)	−8.6 (16.5)	−11.6 (11.1)	−19.1 (−2.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	76.8 (3.02)	61.7 (2.43)	54.2 (2.13)	50.2 (1.98)	59.0 (2.32)	55.9 (2.20)	58.8 (2.31)	73.0 (2.87)	76.8 (3.02)	101.3 (3.99)	114.2 (4.50)	106.9 (4.21)	888.8 (34.99)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	13.1	10.8	10.1	9.0	9.5	8.9	8.2	10.1	10.4	13.1	14.4	14.6	132.2
Mean monthly sunshine hours	61.8	78.4	132.8	189.6	209.8	220.4	225.1	205.1	161.2	110.6	62.7	52.5	1,710
Average ultraviolet index	1	1	3	4	6	6	6	6	4	2	1	1	3
Source 1: Météo France (extremes, precipitation, sunshine)
Source 2: Weather Atlas (UV index)

Climate data for Le Touquet (Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport), 1961−1990 normals
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	6.2 (43.2)	6.8 (44.2)	9.3 (48.7)	12.1 (53.8)	16.1 (61.0)	18.3 (64.9)	20.7 (69.3)	20.6 (69.1)	18.5 (65.3)	15.2 (59.4)	10.2 (50.4)	7.4 (45.3)	13.5 (56.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	4.4 (39.9)	4.3 (39.7)	6.7 (44.1)	8.8 (47.8)	12.9 (55.2)	15.6 (60.1)	17.7 (63.9)	17.4 (63.3)	15.2 (59.4)	12.3 (54.1)	7.8 (46.0)	5.5 (41.9)	10.7 (51.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	2.5 (36.5)	1.8 (35.2)	4.2 (39.6)	5.5 (41.9)	9.7 (49.5)	12.8 (55.0)	14.7 (58.5)	14.1 (57.4)	11.9 (53.4)	9.5 (49.1)	5.4 (41.7)	3.6 (38.5)	8.0 (46.4)
Source: Infoclimat

Demographics

Historical population of Le Touquet, within today's borders of the commune

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1881	516	—
1886	521	+0.19%
1891	586	+2.38%
1896	687	+3.23%
1901	780	+2.57%
1906	1,140	+7.89%
1911	1,692	+8.22%
1921	2,595	+4.37%
1926	3,244	+4.57%
1931	3,880	+3.65%
1936	3,560	−1.71%
1946	3,296	−0.77%
1954	3,625	+1.20%
1962	4,064	+1.44%
1968	4,403	+1.34%
1975	5,370	+2.88%
1982	5,204	−0.45%
1990	5,596	+0.91%
1999	5,299	−0.60%
2006	5,438	+0.37%
2011	4,538	−3.55%
2016	4,244	−1.33%
2021	4,213	−0.15%
Source: INSEE (all except 1946), Laboratoire de Démographie Historique - EHESS (1946)

Data presented as of the 2020 census, unless otherwise noted.

Le Touquet has 4,226 permanent and 301 temporary residents, yielding a total of 4,527 inhabitants. But as a tourist town, the real population at any given moment may change significantly based on the number of holidaymakers. The Cour des Comptes estimated in 2019 that the town reguarly accepts about 250,000 visitors each year. According to the 2022 data compiled by the commune, there were 950,000 night stays in the period from January to September of that year. Therefore, as pre-COVID estimates show, at the peak of the season in late summer, the population may boom to about 35,000 people.

The permanent population is very old, as 59.5% is older than 60, including 23.7% of the total population being over 75. This compares to just 27% of over-60s in the Pas-de-Calais department and 25.6% in Hauts-de-France. There are also great differences in sex: 56% of the population are women, which is mostly attributable to the overrepresentation of women among the elderly. Because retirees constitute a very large part of the total population, the commune has issues with natural population change. It became negative in the 1980s and, with the birth rate falling, the rate of natural increase fell even more. Between 2014 and 2020, the average annual rate of natural population change was -1.5% per annum. The decrease was offset somewhat by a positive migration balance (+0.9% per annum) in this period, but between 1990 and 2014, the commune also experienced a mild net population outflow.

Le Touquet's household composition, just like its population pyramid, is also an outlier. Almost half of permanent residents live alone, and only 16.6% of households have any children (compared to 31.2% of one-person households in Pas-de-Calais and 40.5% households with children). This means that the average household size is 1.69, way below the department average of 2.3 people. As is typical for resorts in France, the majority of residences is secondary (not the primary place of living), but the phenomenon is particularly strong in this city. For a population of only 4,527 people, there are 12,582 residences in the resort, of which 4 in 5 are secondary residences. This is one of the highest rates in all of France and the highest in the region of Hauts-de-France. Even though there are so many residences, the vacancy rate (1%) is negligible compared to about 8% in the department, region or metropolitan France.

A median person in Le Touquet is notably richer than in the surrounding areas: annual disposable income reaches €30,130 per unit of consumption in Le Touquet, compared to just over €20,000 in Pas-de-Calais department and the region of Hauts-de-France and €22,800 in metropolitan France. Poverty rates are also significantly lower: 10% in Le Touquet compared to 17-18% in the wider region. However, according to the Cour des Comptes assessment, in 2014 the median annual household income as a whole (€23,967) did not stand out compared to the surroundings.

Government and politics

Administrative entities

As in other communes of France, citizens of the European Union who are on the electoral roll in Le Touquet elect its municipal council (conseil municipal). According to the Regional and Local Authorities Code and the Election Code, Le Touquet has 27 municipal councillors (conseillers municipaux) elected for six-year terms on a proportional representation basis but with bonus seats for the majority list. That council then elects the mayor (maire), currently Daniel Fasquelle (LR), who is both head of the commune and of the municipal council for the same period of time. The current term started in 2020 and will finish in 2026. Previous mayors include Léonce Deprez (1969-1995; 2001-2008) and Jules Pouget (1934-1963, with several interruptions due to World War II). For local administration purposes, Le Touquet defined ten neighbourhoods with one or two trusted members called ambassadors, whose role is to be a relay between the municipal government and the neighbourhood. They may, though need not be, members of the municipal council.

Le Touquet belongs to the Communauté d'agglomération des Deux Baies en Montreuillois (CA2BM), an intercommunality based in Montreuil that came into existence in January 2017. The statute describes the intercommunality's powers, of which among the more important ones are related to waste and water management, urban development and public transport. Before that, Le Touquet was the headquarters of a looser Communauté de communes mer et terres d'Opale, but a local government reform in 2015 forced the intercommunalities in Montreuil (which failed the minimum 15,000 people threshold introduced by that reform), Le Touquet and Berck to be one bigger unit, by order of the prefect of Pas-de-Calais. Le Touquet sends four municipal councillors to the 82-member intercommunal council. A unit called Agence d'attractivité en Opale-Canche-Authie is a tourist board for the local region, and is separate from CA2BM, but as of the publication of a Cour des Comptes report in 2020, it is in organisational chaos.

Central government organs are not represented in Le Touquet. The subprefecture for Le Touquet is located in a small inland town of Montreuil-sur-Mer, about 18 km (11 mi) to the southeast, and the department's seat is in Arras, 100 km (62 mi) away. Courts with jurisdiction in the commune are scattered around the region: general courts (tribunal judiciaire) as well as commercial, labour courts and courts for minors are located in Boulogne-sur-Mer; Montreuil-sur-Mer has the justice of the peace court (tribunal de proximité) and the agricultural land court; the cour d'assises (the court deciding felony cases) is in Saint-Omer and the administrative court of the first instance is in the regional capital of Lille. Since 2021, the commune maintains a municipal police unit that supplements the efforts of the national police (as of 2022, these are 15 policemen supported by garde champêtres, municipal road patrollers and policemen watching cameras, for a total of 35 police personnel). In September 2023, the Ministry of the Interior announced that policemen who had been headquartered in the town hall would get an enlarged police station in the old gendarmerie building for €6 million, and that ten gendarmes with horses would arrive in summer of 2024 for immigration enforcement purposes.

For statistical purposes, Insee groups Le Touquet within the urban unit of Berck, but at the same time defines Le Touquet as one of the centres of a local functional (metropolitan) area.

Elections

Just like other communes, Le Touquet directly participates in departmental, regional elections and those to the National Assembly and the European Parliament; according to the Electoral Code, 15 municipal councillors may additionally participate in an electoral college to choose senators.

Le Touquet is located in the canton of Étaples, which, just like any other French canton, elects one man and one woman to the departmental council (conseil départemental) for a six-year term. From 2021, these are Philippe Fait (RE) and Geneviève Margueritte, who sit in the right-leaning opposition group Groupe Union pour le Pas-de-Calais. Since 2022, Philippe Fait is also a deputy to the National Assembly for the Pas-de-Calais's 4th constituency. Before him, this constituency previously elected two of Le Touquet's mayors, Fasquelle (who as of January 2024 is treasurer of The Republicans party and an Hauts-de-France regional councillor from 2021) and Deprez. Jules Pouget, another mayor of Le Touquet, was elected senator to the Council of the Republic for one term (1948-1952) under the Fourth Republic.

Le Touquet traditionally leans conservative, which contrasts with the neighboring town of Étaples. The arrondissement of Montreuil-sur-Mer is on a long-term trend more right-wing than the department as a whole, and the canton of Étaples is the most conservative part of the arrondissement. However, since Emmanuel Macron's election to the presidency in 2017, his native city of Amiens and Le Touquet became Macronist strongholds, though right-leaning parties (except the far-right National Rally) still get relatively more support. Macron himself has significant attachment to the city: he votes in Le Touquet and regularly spends time when not in Paris in the villa his wife inherited.

Results

All results in the table are sorted by the share of vote in the whole constituency.

Presidential elections

2012 Presidential election Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % François Hollande Socialist Party 518 12.37 922 21.98 Nicolas Sarkozy (incumbent) Union for a Popular Movement 2,533 60.47 3,273 78.02 Marine Le Pen National Front 498 11.89 Jean-Luc Mélenchon Left Front 150 3.58 François Bayrou Democratic Movement 348 8.31 Eva Joly Europe Ecology – The Greens 46 1.10 Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Republic Arise 50 1.19 Philippe Poutou New Anticapitalist Party 26 0.62 Nathalie Arthaud Workers' Struggle 13 0.31 Jacques Cheminade Solidarity and Progress 7 0.17 Total 4,189 100.00 4,195 100.00 Valid votes 4,189 99.12 4,195 96.28 Invalid/blank votes 37 0.88 162 3.72 Total votes 4,226 100.00 4,357 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,293 79.84 5,296 82.27 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2017 Presidential election Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Emmanuel Macron La République En Marche! 1,291 30.39 3,034 81.08 Marine Le Pen National Front 383 9.02 708 18.92 François Fillon The Republicans 2,158 50.80 Jean-Luc Mélenchon La France Insoumise 193 4.54 Benoît Hamon Socialist Party 59 1.39 Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Debout la France 93 2.19 Jean Lassalle Résistons! 15 0.35 Philippe Poutou New Anticapitalist Party 20 0.47 François Asselineau Popular Republican Union 20 0.47 Nathalie Arthaud Workers' Struggle 16 0.38 Jacques Cheminade Solidarity and Progress 0 0.00 Total 4,248 100.00 3,742 100.00 Valid votes 4,248 99.04 3,742 90.47 Invalid votes 19 0.44 99 2.39 Blank votes 22 0.51 295 7.13 Total votes 4,289 100.00 4,136 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,208 82.35 5,208 79.42 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2022 Presidential election Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Emmanuel Macron (incumbent) La République En Marche! 2,315 55.78 3,217 78.43 Marine Le Pen National Rally 443 10.67 885 21.57 Jean-Luc Mélenchon La France Insoumise 162 3.90 Éric Zemmour Reconquête 481 11.59 Valérie Pécresse The Republicans 469 11.30 Yannick Jadot Europe Ecology – The Greens 71 1.71 Jean Lassalle Résistons! 71 1.71 Fabien Roussel French Communist Party 35 0.84 Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Debout la France 55 1.33 Anne Hidalgo Socialist Party 20 0.48 Philippe Poutou New Anticapitalist Party 14 0.34 Nathalie Arthaud Lutte Ouvrière 14 0.34 Total 4,150 100.00 4,102 100.00 Valid votes 4,150 99.02 4,102 94.89 Invalid votes 20 0.48 62 1.43 Blank votes 21 0.50 159 3.68 Total votes 4,191 100.00 4,323 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,342 78.45 5,340 80.96 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Elections to the European Parliament - party lists receiving no votes are not shown

2009 European Parliament election for the constituency of North-West France Party Votes % UMP - LC - LGM (EPP) 1,443 57.44 Socialist List (PES) 142 5.65 Greens - RPS (Greens-EFA) 182 7.25 National Front (NI) 147 5.85 MoDem (ALDE) 142 5.65 Left Front (GUE/NGL) 12 0.48 Miscellaneous right (leader: Frédéric Nihous) 95 3.78 Independent list (leader: Bernard Frau) 53 2.11 Miscellaneous right (leader: Thierry Grégoire) 262 10.43 Far left list (leader: Eric Pecqueur) 16 0.64 Far right list (leader: Carl Lang) 15 0.60 Independent list (leader: Jacques Borie) 3 0.12 Total 2,512 100.00 Valid votes 2,512 98.09 Invalid/blank votes 49 1.91 Total votes 2,561 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,539 46.24 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2014 European Parliament election for the constituency of North-West France Party Votes % National Front (NI) 487 18.29 Union for a Popular Movement (EPP) 1,139 42.79 Union of the Left (France) (PES) 143 5.37 UDI - MoDem (ALDE) 415 15.59 Europe Ecology (Greens-EFA) 97 3.64 Left Front list (GUE/NGL) 27 1.01 Debout la France 121 4.55 New Deal 37 1.39 Lutte Ouvrière 10 0.38 Nous Citoyens 119 4.47 Citizens for None of the Above 24 0.90 For the Europe of Workers and People 2 0.08 Force vie Nord-Ouest 2 0.08 Europe Citoyenne 10 0.38 Popular Republican Union 17 0.64 Pirate Party 7 0.26 Europe–Democracy–Esperanto 1 0.04 European Federalist Party 2 0.08 Radicalement Citoyen 2 0.08 Total 2,662 100.00 Valid votes 2,662 98.30 Invalid votes 21 0.78 Blank votes 25 0.92 Total votes 2,708 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,198 52.10 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2019 European Parliament eleciton (country-wide constituency) Party Votes % National Rally (NI) 372 11.84 Renaissance (ALDE) 1,554 49.46 Europe Ecology (Greens-EFA) 191 6.08 Union of the Right and the Centre (EPP) 672 21.39 La France Insoumise (GUE/NGL) 36 1.15 Socialist Party-led List (PES) 67 2.13 Debout la France 64 2.04 For a People's Europe, Not Money's Europe 9 0.29 Génération.s 19 0.60 Animalist Party 55 1.75 The Europeans 47 1.50 Lutte Ouvrière 4 0.13 The Patriots 10 0.32 Together for Frexit 15 0.48 The Yellow Alliance 3 0.10 Ecology Emergency 17 0.54 The Forgotten of Europe (ACPLI) 1 0.03 European Federalist Party 2 0.06 Europe–Democracy–Esperanto 1 0.03 Reconquest List 2 0.06 Allons enfants 1 0.03 Total 3,142 100.00 Valid votes 3,142 96.89 Invalid votes 101 3.11 Blank votes 0 0.00 Total votes 3,243 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,170 62.73 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Elections to local government councils

2015 elections to the Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, sorted by results in the Pas-de-Calais department Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Xavier Bertrand The Republicans 1,790 70.03 2,601 76.73 Marine Le Pen National Rally 185 7.24 789 23.27 Pierre de Saintignon Socialist Party 310 12.13 Fabien Roussel French Communist Party 23 0.90 Sandrine Rousseau Europe Ecology – The Greens 62 2.43 Jean-Philippe Tanguy Debout la France 79 3.09 Eric Pecqueur Far left 11 0.43 Sylvain Blondel Miscellaneous right 78 3.05 Eric Mascaro Independent 18 0.70 Total 2,556 100.00 3,390 100.00 Valid votes 2,556 97.82 3,390 96.47 Invalid votes 21 0.80 47 1.34 Blank votes 36 1.38 77 2.19 Total votes 2,613 100.00 3,514 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,280 49.49 5,280 66.55 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2021 elections to the Regional Council of Hauts-de-France, sorted by results in the Pas-de-Calais department Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Xavier Bertrand The Republicans 1,253 55.49 1,760 80.37 Sébastien Chenu National Rally 286 12.67 285 13.01 Karima Delli Europe Ecology – The Greens - Socialist Party 84 3.72 145 6.62 Laurent Pietraszewski Union of Centre 589 26.09 Eric Pecqueur Far left 20 0.89 José Évrard Sovereign Right 19 0.84 Audric Alexandre Independent 7 0.31 Total 2,258 100.00 2,190 100.00 Valid votes 2,258 97.41 2,190 95.13 Invalid votes 36 1.55 68 2.95 Blank votes 24 1.04 44 1.91 Total votes 2,318 100.00 2,302 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,151 45.00 5,151 44.69 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2015 departmental elections - Canton of Étaples Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Philippe Fait and Geneviève Margueritte Miscellaneous right (Union of the right) 1,547 60.19 1,886 76.89 Élise Filliette and Francis Leroy National Rally 560 21.79 567 23.11 Fanny Benoît and Stéphane Sagnier Union of the left 259 10.08 Jean-Paul Hagneré and Brigitte Siodmak-Peron Independent 204 7.94 Total 2,570 100.00 2,453 100.00 Valid votes 2,570 96.22 2,453 93.27 Invalid votes 37 1.39 64 2.43 Blank votes 64 2.40 113 4.30 Total votes 2,671 100.00 2,630 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,244 50.93 5,243 50.16 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2021 departmental elections - Canton of Étaples Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Votes % Philippe Fait and Geneviève Margueritte (incumbents) Miscellaneous right (Union of the right) 1,559 71.48 1,880 86.24 Aurélie Baillet and Guillaume Delplanque National Rally 348 15.96 300 13.76 Ingrid Dewost and François Emmerlinck Miscellaneous left 274 12.56 Total 2,181 100.00 2,180 100.00 Valid votes 2,181 95.83 2,180 95.70 Invalid votes 37 1.63 51 2.24 Blank votes 58 2.55 47 2.06 Total votes 2,276 100.00 2,278 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,151 44.19 5,151 44.22 Source: Ministry of the Interior 2020 municipal elections Candidate Party First round Second round Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Daniel Fasquelle (incumbent) Miscellaneous right (The Republicans) 1,091 38.28 0 1,880 53.12 21 Olivier Lebreuilly La République En Marche! 812 28.49 0 Juliette Bernard Miscellaneous centre 654 22.95 0 1,659 46.88 6 Hervé Pierre Miscellaneous right 293 10.28 0 Total 2,850 100.00 0 3,539 100.00 27 Valid votes 2,850 98.11 3,539 97.92 Invalid votes 37 1.27 38 1.05 Blank votes 18 0.62 37 1.02 Total votes 2,905 100.00 3,614 100.00 Registered voters/turnout 5,263 55.20 5,236 69.02 Source: Ministry of the Interior

Sister cities

Le Touquet's partner cities on the welcome sign

Le Touquet participates in international town twinning; its partners are:

• Winterberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (since September 1966), a winter sports town
• Rixensart, Belgium, south of Brussels
• Witney, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
• Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, an upscale seaside town in the suburbs of Tunis
• Cary, North Carolina, United States
• Eckbolsheim, France, 5 km (3.1 mi) from Strasbourg

That said, Valérie Deldrève of INRAE Nouvelle Aquitaine-Bordeaux published a detailed study outlining the trends of urban development in the commune.

The whole area of the commune has been covered as a notable heritage site (site patrimonial remarquable) or by similar designations since 2005, which mostly covers architectural landmarks.

Economy

Le Touquet's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which is almost the entirety of its economic activity, but the revenues the commune derives from it punch way above the typical weight of the commune of its size. According to the assessment of the Cour des Comptes, even though the commune has fewer than 5,000 people, its budget size would normally have been expected of a commune of 30,000. In 2011-2021, communal expenditures oscillated around €31-36 million, with revenues slightly higher, breaching the €40 million mark in 2017 and 2019 (for communes between 3,500 and 5,000 people, the average budget is just €4 million). Le Touquet's debt, at €16.4 million in 2021, is much higher than typical of the communes its size, but also the commune's budget surplus would allow it to repay it in 3.5 years, faster than the average of 4.5 years. Even though a 2023 law allowed Le Touquet to levy a surcharge on secondary residences, it chose not to.

The commune's workforce activity statistics are not typical for France. In 2020, for a population of about 4,200, 51.6% of the population was retired and another 15.2% were not economically active, but the commune's companies and institutions still provided 3,790 jobs. Due to the heavy tourism influence, almost 90% of companies in Le Touquet are in the service sector, much higher than the French average of 65%. This may lead to problems when typical patterns of tourist activities are disrupted. For example, when the Enduropale motor race was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs who were anticipating a total of almost €5 million in expenses from an estimated 300,000 visitors to the town that the event brings were left empty-handed. On the other hand, 2022 and 2023 proved to be bumper years, the former due to a rebound from COVID-19 (950,000 night stays in the town) and the latter for the region as a whole due to particularly strong presence of foreign tourists from neighbouring countries.

Historically (before World War II), Le Touquet boasted an enormous tourism accomodation capacity, reaching 3,800 rooms, among which 1,000 were in luxury hotels. By 1965, the hotel capacity shrank to 1,540 rooms, and so did the number of hotels: it fell from 123 in 1929 to 48 in 1961 and only 15 in 2011. Still, as of 1 January 2023, the commune's tourist capacity is fairly large: the commune has 20 hotels with 1,041 rooms, 205 camping pitches and 449 beds in two apartment hotels. There is also an estimated 1,300 homestay beds (offered through platforms such as Airbnb or Booking), whose registration is mandatory with the mayoral office of the commune for hotel tax collection purposes. In 2023, the commune unveiled plans for a third party to build a 90-room social housing complex for students and seasonal workers and as well as accommodation for the Republican Guards to deter illegal immigration, but the time of completion is yet to be announced.

Culture and leisure

Sport

Motorsports

Further information (in French): Enduropale

Enduropale, an enduro beach race, is the principal sports event in Le Touquet in winter (here, the 2022 edition is shown)

Every year in February, an off-road motorcycle and quad beach race called Enduropale (formerly Enduro du Touquet) is held along the beach and through the dunes. It was started in 1975 on the initiative of Mayor Léonce Deprez and Thierry Sabine, the creator of the Dakar Rally. Starting with a rather modest 8,000 spectators, the numbers of onlookers ballooned to 250,000 to 300,000 in the early 2000s and further closer to 500,000 people in late 2010s. The event was cancelled twice: in 1991 because of the Gulf War and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the second cancellation did not diminish interest in the sport: the 2022 edition had 500,000 spectators, and the 2023 edition had a record 600,000 guests, including 350,000 on the second day of the event alone. Around 1,100 to 1,300 motorcycles and about 350 quad bikes, driven by more than 2,000 contestants, participate in this race. When the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme announced its new Sand Race World Cup in 2023, Enduropale was included as the first race of the championship in 2023 and in 2024.

Cycling

Le Touquet’s municipal tennis club

Le Touquet has been host to four stages of the Tour de France. The resort first hosted a stage during the 1971 Tour de France, as the finish for Stage 6b, from Amiens, on 2 July. Following this, the resort hosted Stage 3 of the 1976 Tour de France, on 27 June. This was a 37 kilometres (23 mi) individual time trial which both started and finished at the resort. The following day, Le Touquet was the departure point for the fourth stage, to Bornem in Belgium. The 2014 Tour de France began Stage 4 at Le Touquet on 8 July, with the stage taking a 163.5 kilometres (101.6 mi) route to Lille Métropole.

Tennis

The Le Touquet Tennis Club is the home of international tournaments. It has 33 courts (25 clay courts and 8 indoor courts), 2 club-houses, 1 central court with 900 places, 2 paddle-tennis courts and 4 mini tennis courts.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Le Touquet is served by Le Touquet - Côte d'Opale Airport. Le Touquet airport is a popular destination for British private pilots due to its geographical proximity to the UK, often becoming the first overseas flight destination.

Trains operated by SNCF operate to Étaples-Le Touquet in the adjacent town of Étaples. These operate from Paris Gare du Nord to Boulogne-Ville; from Boulogne-Ville to Arras (TER Hauts-de-France); from Lille Flandres to Calais-Ville (TER Hauts-de-France); and from Étaples-Le Touquet to Lille Europe (TERGV).

Notable people

• Le Touquet was the birthplace of Christian Ferras, violinist.

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

References

Books and monographs

• Lévêque, Édouard (1905). Histoire de Paris-Plage et du Touquet: souvenirs et impressions. Montreuil: Charles Delambre.
• Quételart, M (1931). L'architecture au Touquet. Abbeville: Editions M. Popinot.
• Chauvet, Jean; Béal, C; Holuigne, F (1982). Le Touquet-Paris-Plage à l'aube de son nouveau siècle 1882 - 1982. Éditions Flandres-Artois-Côte d'Opale.
• Boivin, Martine; Boivin, Daniel; de Geeter, Édith; de Geeter, Yves (1987). Paris-Plage en cartes postales anciennes. Le Touquet.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• de Geeter, Edith; de Geeter, Yves (1987). Images du Touquet-Paris-Plage.
• Tomczak, Anne (2000). Les années si folles de Paris-Plage. La Voix du Nord.
• Saudemont, Patrick (2011). Les 100 ans du Touquet-Paris-Plage. Michel Lafon.
• Paradis, Thierry (2008). Le Touquet occupé 1940-1944. Bonchamp-les-Laval: Barnéoud.
• Holl, Philippe; Flahaut, Patrick (2007). La seconde guerre mondiale au Touquet (in French). Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire: Éditions Alan Sutton. ISBN 978-2-84910-692-1.
• Société académique du Touquet-Paris-Plage (2012). 1912-2012: Un siècle d'histoires. Le Touquet-Paris-Plage: Éditions Henry.
• Saitzek, Gaëtan (2017). "La reconstruction du Touquet Paris-Plage". In Chélini, Michel-Pierre; Roger, Philippe (eds.). Reconstruire le Nord – Pas-de-Calais après la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1944-1958) (in French). Villeneuve d'Ascq: Presses universitaires du Septentrion. pp. 267–280. ISBN 978-2-7574-2795-8. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
• Trentesaux, Alain; Daburon, Anaïs; Bot, Sophie Le; Maurin, Caroline; Michard, Bertrand; Minguet, Mathilde; Roche, Amélie; Simplet, Laure; Vancraenenbroeck, Vincent (February 2018), "Données sédimentologiques", Dynamique et évolution du littoral – Fascicule 1, Synthèse des connaissances de la frontière belge à la pointe du Hourdel, Connaissances, Cerema, retrieved 1 December 2023

Touquetparisplage Category:Seaside resorts in France Category:Pas-de-Calais communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia