Virgin Travels, Launched at the end of 2021 by British businessman Richard Branson, it is announcing its arrival in France and Italy in the cruise sector.
“Between May and October 2025, French and Italian passengers will be able to discover Virgin Voyages on board the Scarlet Lady and Resilient Lady ships, both located in Europe. In 2025, Virgin Voyages will gradually continue its international development,” we can read in a press release.
The two ships will sail more than 40 itineraries in Europe between April and November 2025, including the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, Northern Europe and Iceland.
Small peculiarity, these cruises will be strictly reserved for adults (over 18 years old), children will not be admitted on board.
40 routes
It must be said that more and more tour operators, hotels and airlines are developing offers reserved for adults with the promise of offering peace of mind to customers.
It started with air travel, which can become a painful experience when interrupted by the crying of a child or baby. Hence the idea of creating spaces on planes that were strictly reserved for adults.
The practice began in Asia several years ago, notably at AirAsia. Get (since 2013) that offer, not flights without children, but rather spaces prohibited for them, sometimes at no additional cost.
In Europe, Corendon Airlines, a Turkish-Dutch airline, became the first European operator to offer this service last year.
Atilay Uslu, founder of the airline, highlights that this child-free zone was intended to “satisfy travellers looking for a little more peace and quiet during their flight.”
In some hotels and restaurantsBlonde heads are simply banned to preserve the peace of the adults.
as well as how the giant tuiCorendon (the parent company of Corendon Airlines) already offers hotels or clubs prohibited for minors in its catalogue.
“Children are the noise pollution in our society”
“A stay with your partner, your mother, your girlfriend or a group of friends: everyone needs to go on holiday without children sometimes! In our Adults Only hotels you are guaranteed to spend a holiday in a relaxed and exceptional atmosphere, with a touch of romance,” the group promises in its advertisements.
The same is true for the French FRAM or the travel agency Fairmoove, which assures: “Relaxation is a must, as there are no blondes or brunettes here!” As for the famous Tripadvisor, it now offers a French ranking of the “best hotels reserved for adults”.
Peace and quiet are, for example, the strong points of this four-star campsite in the Lot. “We were fed up with children not being supervised by their parents,” explains the owner.
Legal?
And the trend seems to be growing rapidly. The German site Urlaud without child (holidays without children) counted and located 1,500 “Adults Only” hotels around the world until last February, but stopped doing so.
“With over 1,500 listings, the effort required to make changes is simply too great. The hotel industry is changing very quickly, hotels are opening, being sold and rebranded,” the site explains.
Is this legal? In France, Article 225-1 of the Penal Code prohibits all discrimination. “This is not a discriminatory selection process,” Jonathan Bellaiche, a lawyer specialising in labour law, told AFP. tourism. It is about “offering a service to a specific clientele to respond to the needs of their commercial activity,” he believes, pointing out that “there is no jurisprudence” on this issue.
Source: BFM TV
