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Last modified: 2022-06-12 by ivan sache
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Flag of FNOTSI, two versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 23 May 2020
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In France, tourist information is managed at the local (municipality or group of municipalities) level by two kinds of bodies, the offices de tourisme (O.T.) and the syndicats d'initiative (S. I.).
The first office de tourisme was set up in 1905 in the Alpine
village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse. Today, the offices de
tourisme are official bodies regulated by Articles L133-1 - L133-19
and L134-1 - L 134-6 of the Code du tourisme (full text) - a group of legal texts and regulations, whose compilation was decided in 2000 and
completed by Decree of 6 September 2006. Every municipality, or group
of municipalities (which is often the case in rural areas) is entitled
to found an office de tourisme; the respective Municipal Council(s)
shall decide of the legal status and mode of organization of the
office de tourisme, whose main purposes are the tourists'
information and local tourist promotion, in coordination with the
Departmental and Regional Tourism Committees. The offices de
tourisme are more and more involved in the organization of local
events and the sale of tourist products and services.
In 2010, there were 2,494 offices de tourisme, grouped in four
categories according to the services they provide (*, 1,084; **, 951;
***, 319; ****, 65).
The syndicats d'initiative are private, non-profit organizations;
accordingly, they have no official status and are not listed in the
Code du tourisme. Every municipality (or group of municipalities)
officially recognized as a station touristique (tourist resort;
Articles L133-13 - L133-16 and L134-3 - L134-4 of the Code du
tourisme) is entitled to found a syndicat d'initiative, whose
purposes are quite similar to those of the offices de tourisme, but
with a less pronounced commercial aim. Originally, the syndicats
d'initiative were in charge of the management of the events of tourist season.
The offices de tourisme and syndicats d'initiative are grouped in an officially recognized, umbrella organization, the Fédération nationale des offices de tourisme et syndicats d'initiative (FNOTSI; website).
Ivan Sache, 2 November 2010
The FNOTSI grants to its members the right to use the well-known "i-logo", which is sometimes placed on a white flag hoisted in front of the tourist information center (photo; photo). On some flags (photo,
photo), the words "Office de tourisme" are added beneath the emblem.
The "i-logo", last amended in 2104, is made of a blue square diamond charged with a red,
cursive letter "i", whose left and lower sides are outlined in white
and whose right side it outlined in yellow. The letter "i" stands
here for "information".
Ivan Sache & Olivier Touzeau, 23 May 2020
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}otsi2.gif)
Former flag of FNOTSI - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 23 May 2020
The former flag of FNOTSI (photo) was white with the federation's former logo.
Ivan Sache, 2 November 2010
