I read in The Echos that the final balance for this summer is positive for tourism in France and that tourist activities in our northern neighbor have been very positive both in July and August. (They describe those in July as “honorable” and those of August as of “even better for greater satisfaction of the professionals in the sector”).
Les Echos points out that the good result is attributable to domestic tourism, as the crisis has forced the French to engage in local tourism and to take more frequent trips.
However, if we compare this summer with the summer of 2008, we can see a fall of 41% in overnight stays in France in general and of 31% in Paris in particular. This is mainly due to the drop in the number of foreign tourists who have chosen France as a holiday destination. Prototourism (the source of this data cited by Les Echos) indicates that foreign tourism has dropped by 201% and that reservations have arrived very late.
The article highlights the high number of tourists who have visited Corsica (41% more than the previous year) due mainly to the arrival of tourists through the 3 airports served by low-cost airlines.
As a general rule, tourists have reduced their spending per person both in shops and restaurants... which is normal, since inland tourism tends to make more cultural visits, rather than sitting on bar terraces and buying souvenirs.
Well... let's wait a few more days and we'll see what our balance is like.
Next note: The Generalitat has already published the data on Tourism in Catalonia for this summer 2009. They can be read at Comunicatur
