A USE-IT tourist map of Angers for young international travelers

As part of an educational project, students∙es from Esthua - Institut national de tourisme, have produced an English-language tourist map of the city of Angers. It is available free of charge at several locations around the city.

In September 2024, two Esthua master's classes, in Tourism Destination Project and Development and Tourism Organization and Digital Management, were involved in the USE-IT participative map project. A questionnaire was distributed online and at Campus Day to 300 young Angevin∙es. The aim: to find out what places these 18-26 year-olds prefer to go out (museums, bars, restaurants, cultural venues, natural sites), or to buy local in order to feed into the creation of the free USE-IT map of the city of Angers. These cards exist in several major European cities and are created by locals for young international tourists.

To bring this project to fruition, the students∙es created the association Top Mapettes USE-IT Angers, then sorted the data collected, drafted texts in English with the help of their teachers∙es, sought ideas for design and graphics, and launched a call for the artistic conception of the map.

In the end, a recto-verso map of Angers (one by day, the other by night) was completed in September 2025, a first for the city of King René. Four hundred and twenty-five locations were listed and laid out with the help of Sigrid Giffon, a cartographer from the ESO-Angers research unit, and a professional graphic artist.

Participating in the creation of a card by young people for young people was extremely rewarding," recalls Julie Reynaud, a second-year student in the Master's Project and Tourist Development of Destinations program, and a member of the board of the association created. The USE-IT brand is interesting because it's available free of charge, and the map is a good representation of the city of Angers. I've been able to get in touch with young people by doing micro-trottoirs and discovering the world of associations."

"Bringing this card to life

Financed by the Université d'Angers, Esthua and the Contribution de vie étudiante et des campus (Cvec), the card was distributed at Campus Day on Thursdaye at Campus Day on Thursday September 18, at the COP on Tuesday October 7, and at the Sustainable Tourism University Days on October 9 and 10. It is also available from the Angers tourist office and, shortly, from shopkeepers∙es and all recommended public places.