“I had to go to La Rochelle,” Sophie, a mother of three, told AFP. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to stop halfway, at my family, in Orleans” for lack of fuel, she said. Like her, other French people hesitate to confirm her reservations, or even give up going on vacation.
At Villages Vacances Familles (VVF), we see a “sales flow” that “has slowed down a lot this weekend with a drop of 30% compared to last year” and cancellations that “have doubled since Friday”.
“We have great concern,” Stéphane Le Bihan, its general manager, told AFP, predicting “sales will almost come to a standstill if the transport situation is not resolved.” “We think we’re down 20 to 30% for the second week of vacation and 10% for the first.” Particularly affected: “Occitania, Alsace and Southwest”.
Slowdowns and cancellations
On Monday, on the eve of a day of interprofessional mobilization, strikes resumed at three refineries of seven and five large TotalEnergies deposits, which aggravated tensions over fuel supply: the shortage affected the 30th on Sunday night, 1% of spas, and even 41.6% in Ile-de-France and 42.8% in the Centre-Val-de-Loire region.
“Customers call us to tell us that they are worried and that they may be cancelling”, especially those who come from nearby European countries: “They come by car so they won’t be able to get there”, he laments.
On the coast, Claire Bartholus, director of the Le Touquet thalassotherapy center, noted on Monday morning “a slowdown in bookings during the school vacation period”, without knowing what to attribute it to.
Some professionals, on the other hand, do not notice any interruption: the Compagnie des Alpes does not see any decrease in the reserves of its parks: Futuroscope, Parc Astérix, France miniature…
last minute reservations
“My sales team doesn’t see any impact at the moment,” adds Solenne Devys, deputy general manager of Okko Hotels – a dozen establishments in Grenoble, Lyon, Strasbourg, Toulon, Cannes… increasingly shorter, 48 hours in average, we will know more at the end of the week”, he adds.
On the part of the regional Tourism Committee of Brittany, the difficulty “in anticipating the behavior of travelers” is also underlined. “This may have curbed last-minute bookings, but if it wears off quickly the effect will be less,” says a spokesman.
And even if the situation continues, we continue, “the impact will be less despite everything” in commercial accommodation: at the moment the majority of vacationers are “local clients” and families staying in a second residence.
Still in Brittany, Sébastien Baussais, general manager of Gîtes de France in Finistère, reassures himself: “compared to last year, we are doing quite well,” he says.
gloomy outlook
In Angers, Guillaume Gardin, who runs two hotel establishments, including a Kyriad, remains calm. “We don’t have a real wave of cancellations yet … but it’s clear that if we can’t get back on track, we’re going to have a hard time,” he said.
Requested, the rental platform between individuals Airbnb indicated that it had no data.
But beyond these immediate fears, the difficulties linked to the sharp resurgence of inflation that is cutting the purchasing power of families, darken the horizon of a tourism sector that is coming out of a very favorable summer.
According to catering specialist NPD Group, one in two consumers in France, Germany and the UK anticipate a drop in their standard of living within six months.
Source: BFM TV
