The Huttopia Foundation
Support projects in the field of ecotourism.
Mission
Showing that people are enriched both by contact with nature and by their differences with Others.
Created in 2018, the Huttopia Foundation’s purpose is to encourage entrepreneurial, cultural, educational and social actions related to the development of Responsible Tourism. These projects help demonstrate that, on one hand, nature is beneficial for people and it is therefore in their interest to take care of it, and on the other hand that people are enriched through contact with others. The Foundation seeks to promote initiative, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in connection with sustainable tourism. Thus, the Huttopia Foundation supports initiatives aimed at making holidays in nature accessible to as many people as possible.
Actions
Supporting initiatives related to Ecotourism
THE HUTTOPIA HOLIDAY OBSERVATORY
Created by the Huttopia Foundation in partnership with L’ObSoCo, the Society and Consumption Observatory, and chaired by sociologist Jean Viard, the Huttopia Holiday Observatory is a research and analysis body dedicated to understanding holiday practices and the evolution of tourism in France.
Holidays hold a central place in the lives of French people, yet they remain a largely understudied social subject: limited recent data, no longitudinal tracking, and figures that are both incomplete and contested. To address this gap in academic knowledge, the Huttopia Foundation conducts a major national survey every year, based on a representative sample of 4,000 French respondents answering around one hundred questions, in order to provide reliable, rigorous and freely accessible data for all those wishing to reflect on holidays — and more broadly on tourism in our society.
This study offers an unprecedented insight into the place of holidays in our lives: aspirations, transmission, practices, and people’s relationship with and access to holidays… The full results are available online free of charge, in an open-access approach designed to fuel public debate and collective reflection.
- 4,000 French respondents representative of the population
- 100+ questions on habits, aspirations and holiday practices
- 200+ unique figures and analyses on the holiday behaviour of the French
Holidays have been our business since 1999. We are always striving to understand them better. But we noticed a striking shortage of robust data on this time that is nevertheless so central to our lives. This Observatory aims to fill that gap — and because this is a subject that concerns us all, we chose to make it freely and openly accessible, so that everyone can engage with it.
CABANE FESTIVAL 2026
Sam Stourdzé, Director of the Villa Medici, organises the Cabane Festival every year with his teams, in the heart of the gardens of this iconic hub of French culture in Rome.
In 2024, we exhibited the iconic Huttopia rental accommodation, the ‘Cahutte’.
Last year, we proudly presented ‘La Coque’, the prototype of the winning project from the biennial Tiny House design contest organised by the Huttopia Foundation — open to all and yet highly popular among architecture students (link to the relevant section).
A landmark achievement for the winning trio and an exceptional showcase for our work.
This year brings a change of scene, as we are delighted to exhibit the ‘Creetopia’.
A tent conceived in collaboration with the Cree First Nation of Eeyou Istchee, it is an innovative exploration of sustainable tourism and lightweight architecture in one of the world’s most demanding territories: the Canadian Far North. The ‘Creetopia’ embodies a dialogue between Indigenous traditions and design innovation. After a few adjustments, it has just been installed in the Villa’s gardens, among its peacocks and its famous pine trees planted over 200 years ago by Ingres.
It has thus taken its place alongside the other cabanes and will be on display until the end of September 2026.
TINY HOUSE CONTEST
Encouraging innovation in habitat and ecotourism equipment
The Tiny House trend reflects a need to live a simpler, more sustainable life closer to nature – a need that Huttopia identified over 25 years ago.
Long a niche interest, the Tiny House movement has been gaining momentum as environmental awareness grows in our societies. This movement increasingly appeals to those seeking affordable housing while reducing their environmental impact. Increasingly viewed as a “way of life,” the Tiny House advocates a return to essentials and a slower lifestyle.
The Huttopia Foundation decided to encourage thinking around Tiny Houses by launching a competition open to all, offering winners the technical and financial means to build their prototype while giving all candidates the opportunity to showcase their work.
While the first two editions, launched in 2020 and 2022 respectively, received between 70 and 80 submissions from creators of all backgrounds, the third edition, launched in November 2023, received 112 submissions from candidates worldwide (representing 18 nationalities).
THE FOUNDATION SPORT DANS LA VILLE
Inspiring young people to become entrepreneurs in Responsible Tourism
In 2019, Sport dans la Ville and the Huttopia Foundation became partners to create a holiday center which opened in 2021 in the Drôme Provençale region. Its goal is to welcome 800 young people annually from disadvantaged neighborhoods that most have never left before. The Foundation also offers skills-based sponsorship by supporting these young people in their academic and professional development. The objective of these programs is to help young people leave their neighborhoods, create opportunities for change, encourage and facilitate access to employment in the tourism industry, and particularly to inspire them to become entrepreneurs.
L’ENTREPRISE DES POSSIBLES
Beyond that, becoming a “civic actor” by helping the most vulnerable homeless people
Huttopia is a founding member and administrator of L’Entreprise des Possibles. L’Entreprise des Possibles is a collective of committed companies working alongside their employees, public actors, and associations to help homeless and vulnerable people.
Our objective is to mobilize human, financial, and real estate resources to amplify the work of associations on the ground and find solutions to help people off the streets. L’Entreprise des Possibles has contributed, for example, to the development of a temporary and mobile housing village that accommodates 80 residents on land made available by a developer for 2 to 3 years. Other projects are advancing to accommodate young mothers leaving maternity who have no housing solution.Beyond Huttopia’s financial support, our employees can offer their services through skills-based sponsorship.
LES ÉDITIONS DE L’AUBE
The Foundation has also set itself the objective of encouraging reflection on more sustainable tourism. In 2024, a partnership with Jean Viard and Editions de l’Aube was established to create a collection called “Tourism in Debate.” 5 books have been published: Journey to the Land of Overtourism by Linda Lainé, Reconciling Tourism and Nature by Raymond Desjardins, How Do Our Travels Speak About Us? by Jean Didier Urbain, When Tourism Awakens by Linda Lainé and Jean Viard, From Hollywood to Huttopia, the Fabulous Story of Paradise Springs by Justin Chapman, and The Book of Holidays, and What They Say About Us by Jean Viard and Guénaëlle Gault, with a preface by Philippe Bossanne.
Tourism is often viewed as a secondary concern. The aim of this collection is to treat it, as it rightly deserves, as a central subject to be reflected upon, developed and shaped around the concepts that define us: sustainable tourism, innovation, disconnection, dialogue with nature, local areas and their communities.