The Easter holidays serve as the beginning of the summer vacation period. Manager of the campsite “Le Mas” in the town of Martigues in Bouches-du-Rhône, Nadine Gonzalez has already noticed a reservation rate of 80%. “People want to find themselves in an environment away from all the worries that we can find ourselves at this moment on a day-to-day basis, she analyzes. Once you’ve paid the rent, a bathing suit and a sarong and a little salad isn’t a big budget.”
The 7,000 French campsites rank second in the world and are even the first in Europe in terms of attendance, since they capture a third of it. They should receive around 25 million faithful in 2023.
A successful model but in danger
After a record year 2022, the 2023 season for French campsites “seems to be taking the same path” with a 21% increase in bookings in one year, starting April 1, according to the national federation of air hotels. free (FNHPA). In 2022, 136 million overnight stays were registered and “even more spectacular developments” are expected in 2023, FNHPA president Nicolas Dayot said during a press conference on Tuesday.
However, the president of the FNHPA points to a risk of disappearance that weighs on one in three campsites: “It is very difficult to create holiday villages or tourist residences for mainly environmental reasons. But the objective must be precisely to maintain those that were created. 30, 40 or 50 years ago. Losing them is a tragedy for the French tourism economy.”
Source: BFM TV
