What the French want for this summer

Summer vacation “present themselves in a complicated manner with a drop in starters and a drop in the budget“, explains Didier Arino, general director of the Protourisme firm, to AFP.

31.3 million French people will go on vacation this summer

In July-August, 31.3 million French people will go on vacation compared to 31.5 million last year, estimates Didier Arino, who notes that 24.1 million of them choose a commercial stay, i.e. in a hotel, club, residence or campsite (compared to 25.4 million in 2023).

According to a Europ Assistance barometer, the budget planned by the French for their summer vacation is around 2,102 euros per household for an average duration of 2.2 weeks, below the average European budget of 2,446 euros for 2 weeks.

The Swiss have the biggest budget in Europe (4,073 euros), while the Germans and English have around 3,000 euros.

Among the French, 10% of those leaving have an increasing budget compared to 2023, 34% a decreasing budget and 56% an equivalent budget, according to Didier Arino. For vacationers who will have to monitor their finances, restrictions will be on the length of stay, distance, catering and even leisure activities.

“Artisans, the self-employed, traders are the most affected by inflation” and are those who will further reduce their expenses, underlines the specialist.

On the destination side, “we also have the weather factor which plays a big role, people are fed up with bad weather and are looking for the sun“, he emphasizes.

“There is a weather impact on reservations“, confirms to AFP Jérôme Mercier, CEO of campsites.com. He notes a growth of 20% in reservations compared to 2023 in Languedoc-Roussillon, 23% in Aquitaine and 18% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’ Azur. At the same time, the Pays de la Loire remains the second destination behind Languedoc-Roussillon but is losing 6% of reservations and Brittany 5%.

Return of low-cost flights

“It may be an Olympic Games impact” : there is a “strong growth in reservations for the month of August while the month of July is rather late“, notes Mr. Mercier. Of the 16 million tourists expected in France during the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) and Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8), 13 million will be French.

The Olympics are attractive, underlines a survey from the travel comparator Kayak.fr: “8% of respondents plan to travel to Paris to experience the excitement” of this event. Particularly in Île-de-France where this figure rises to 29%, according to Kayak.fr, but not only since 12% of respondents in the Côte d’Azur also wish to come to Paris for the occasion.

Of those surveyed, 30% plan to stay at home and watch the competitions on television, while 17% plan to take advantage of this period to go on vacation and completely disconnect.

On the contrary, the Olympics push others to leave, and even far away: “We have more departures in Ile-de-France“during the Games, notes Didier Arino, “with 40% of those planning a trip abroad while usually we are around 33%“.

The choice of the foreigner can also be explained by “the return of flights and in particular low-cost flights“, according to him and “always a desire for sunshine which is reflected in the choice of destinations“.

“French people who leave France in summer always favor Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece or Croatia.“, according to the Expedia.fr website.

Here too the budget is important. Expedia.com notes that the emerging summer destination is Albania, with a 25% jump in flight searches for the capital Tirana and a 35% jump for hotel stays.

In Albania, “in addition to the attraction of novelty, the cost of living, which is much lower than that of neighboring countries, is also a definite asset“, notes Expedia.fr. “The economic argument” also explains “the success of the southern coast of Turkey around Antalya, where hotel searches are up 30%“, he adds.

Slide: These timeless activities that we only do on vacation