Back to school is coming up and it’s time to take stock of the summer holidays. If the increase in hotel prices seems to have increased due to inflation, the French have been able to adapt by favoring less frequented destinations or leaving for less time.
“Restauration professionals have drunk the cup”
Based on initial feedback from tourism industry professionals, the results are mixed. Summer 2023 is fairly stable compared to 2022, but logically the on-site expenses have been revised downwards to adjust for inflation. “Restaurant professionals have had a drink,” says Linda Laine, editor-in-chief of the specialized magazine The tourist eco, on the set of BFMTV. According to her, the French prefer cooking local products at home.
“The fall in purchasing power is a real problem for us,” adds Frank Chaumes, president of the national UMIH catering, before lamenting the difficulties of restaurateurs to stabilize their prices due to inflation. Of course, the inclement weather this summer on the Atlantic coast and southwest also stands out, but what remains more worrying is above all the lack of personnel. “Some establishments have been forced to close in the middle of the season,” says Frank Chaumes.
The hospitality industry in better shape
In the hotel sector, on the other hand, the figures are much more encouraging, in particular for campsites that have experienced the return of foreign customers and the influx of French people attracted by the advantageous price of outdoor accommodation. Even the traditional hotel sector performed well: the occupancy rate decreased by 2%, but the turnover, for its part, increased by 1.7%.
“This season we have experienced a favorable context and we maintain correct margins”, specifies François Gauthier, president of the independent hotel sector. The higher prices practiced this year would have allowed the sector to record a record turnover. Added to this is the strong return of international tourists to French territory.
Travel locally to spend less
More specifically, it is the hotel industry in mountainous and rural areas that registered the highest turnover compared to last year, with an increase of 13.2% in the Northern Alps and 7% in the Pyrenees.
For Vanguelis Panayotis, CEO of MKG Consulting, these regions offer “better value for money compared to the more traditional destinations on the Côte d’Azur or the Atlantic coast.” The latter also evokes the option of escaping from the summer heat, when episodes of heat waves were already announced at the start of the holidays. “This summer, inflation and weather have been the arbiters when choosing tourists,” summarizes Linda Laine.
For those who could afford to go abroad, southern Europe and Morocco were more popular given the lower cost of living there. This is confirmed by Guillaume Rostand, Liligo spokesman, while explaining that “the airline sector is finally returning to a pre-Covid situation despite inflation.” Despite a “25% increase in airline tickets year-over-year, we’re still feeling real buoyancy.”
Reduce costs as much as possible.
According to Vanguelis Panayotis, local family tourism during Covid gave way to “a fierce desire to satisfy this frustration of not having been able to travel so freely”. “On the one hand, we need a vacation because we live in an environment that generates more anxiety and, on the other, we have seen some acceptability in terms of price,” he describes, explaining that the choice to stay in France seemed to be a good alternative.
To reduce costs, some vacationers have taken the decision to shorten their summer holidays, or even opt for off-season periods. This choice would allow, according to Guillaume Rostand, “to benefit from prices that are 30% cheaper on average”. A solution that is obviously reserved for the French without children.
Source: BFM TV
