Résumé
The ViaRhôna is the central project for the Plan Rhône's tourism component. It will over time run along the Rhône River for 815 kilometers from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea. It already offers its various users new or renewed access to the river, its landscapes and heritage. What are the consequences of this facilitated access on the users' representations and the value they attribute to the Rhône River? This contribution answers through statistical analysis, especially using random forests algorithms, of 546 questionnaires administrated on three sites during 2017 summer 2017. Gendered distribution, socio-professional categories and geographical origins of this panel are typical of the public of greenways and cycle routes: it is rather masculine, from higher social classes and primarily coming from local and regional surroundings. The analysis points out that going to the Rhône River is a real motivation for using the ViaRhôna and that the value attributed to the river is high. The survey reveals that the existence of the ViaRhôna contributes to further the number of visits to the Rhône River banks and to enhance its value for its very diverse public. The inhabitants and tourists' representations of the riparian territories seem to evolve, first of all thanks to the discovery of the natural heritage or the higher familiarity with them that the ViaRhôna favors.