The coronavirus crisis has been dramatic for the tourism sector. While the French organize their summer holidays, the Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne encourages them to stay in France, whether in mainland France or overseas. An already existing trend, "slow tourism", advocating in particular shorter journeys, which should be anchored in our habits because of the epidemic.
What will the upcoming summer vacation look like?
JEAN-BAPTISTE LEMOYNE. They will certainly be a little different, but just as successful as the previous ones I am convinced! The season will be crucial for the tourism industry. It is even a question of survival for certain professionals who almost wiped out with a stroke of the pen after these three months of stopping. The sector was the first to be supported financially by the State, with aid of 18 billion euros on the table, a solidarity fund and a partial unemployment measure which will be financed until the end of the year . We must continue this support and that is why I am calling for a three-color holiday, a blue, white and red summer so that the French can favor France as a destination, in mainland France as well as overseas.
Is it a way for everyone to show solidarity?
Yes, it is important for all the territories and professions that have suffered that have only one desire, and ants in their legs: to welcome the people who come to see them as well as possible. And to support this movement, a campaign is launched, on our initiative and that of Atout France, on social networks around the hashtag # cetétéjevisitelafrance.
What are the trends ?
What emerges from the discussions I have had recently with future tourists is a strong desire to go to places where we feel safe, places that we already know and where we have bearings. . It is also going back to destinations that we have already visited, which evoke memories, the grandfather's house for example. There is a better distribution of vacation homes and campsites throughout the country, which favors less popular areas, rural areas and the mountains. The French will spend, for many, a summer in a daisy: they will drop anchor at a place, with family or friends, to then make star excursions in order to visit the surrounding sites.
Are these behaviors going to last?
Spontaneously, following this crisis, behaviors are changing and perhaps foreshadowing the holidays of tomorrow. We will slide from an ever further tourism, always more numerous in ever larger planes, towards what is called "slow tourism", in short circuit and with more authenticity.
Are the sanitary measures still in force not too strict to be compatible with the "vacation" spirit?
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No. We can leave without fear in places that professionals have adapted to sanitary requirements but keeping a summer atmosphere. In campsites, aquatic areas will remain open, like children's clubs, under almost identical conditions. Yes, the dance party may leave room for other festive activities, but I trust the hospitality professionals who know how to be creative. This summer 2020 will mark the return of happy days after three months during which we lived with anxiety and lived with the count of people who died because of the virus.
Is there a chance that some health measures will be eased in early July?
We have, in just one month, already changed the situation a lot thanks to all the efforts of the French. The zoological parks have all reopened, half of the leisure parks will do so in the coming days. There are still deconfinement stages to come, on June 22 and then the end of the state of emergency, from July 10. These are milestones that will, like each previous step, find flexibility compatible with the maintenance of health precautions, while reconciling recovery and vigilance. It would be a disservice to do everyone too fast and risk a repeat offense.
And you, what do you foresee?
As usual, I will stay in France. I will be with my family first in the Yonne, the department in which I am elected, and in the Basque Country, the region of origin of my wife.
