"I believe we saved the summer in a context that was not obvious", that of an upsurge in the Covid-19 epidemic due to the Delta variant, "very contagious", assured Wednesday the Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, on the LCI plateau.
“We managed to continue the summer season thanks to the braking measures that were taken very early, also thanks to the health pass,” said Lemoyne.
➡On #tourism
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"We saved the summer in a context that was not obvious"
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- LCI (@LCI) August 25, 2021
At the beginning of August, the minister announced that he would expect 50 million foreign tourists in France, especially Europeans.
So far, it is especially the French who seem to have pulled the tourist train: among those who went on vacation, 85% remained in the territory against 75% in 2019, he recalled.
The Secretary of State for Tourism insisted on the "very good performance" of the campsites and lodges.
“The Gîtes de France are at + 10% compared to 2019, which itself was a record year in July”.
The mountain catches up with its black winter
The coast and the mountains remain “sure values”.
“We were on + 24% in the Pyrenees, for example.
This is to tell you that the mountain has taken on color after a very complicated winter, since the ski lifts were closed, ”he pointed out.
The Secretary of State is betting on a late season that he hopes will be positive "with a little by little revival of events, very important for Paris for example", but also the resumption of travel for groups of seniors, prevented from there. last fall.
For his part, Olivier Cohn, Managing Director of Best Western Hotels & Resorts France, also noted a “rather good” summer on Wednesday at the microphone of BFM Business: “It is better than last year, not yet quite at the level of 2019, we are at -15% in July and -2 or -3% in August compared to 2019 ”.
“The countryside and the sea have worked extremely well,” he noted, unlike city-center cultural tourism, which is rather popular in the capitals by foreign tourists.
The leader also observed that the share of foreign tourists in his hotel chain, typically 40%, has fallen to 10% this year.
Conversely, wealthy tourism relives good times: after months of restrictions, the most beautiful palaces in the capital have regained their international clientele.
And they were the first to be surprised.
