The prefectures of Gironde and Pyrénées-Atlantiques prohibited tourist accommodation on Friday evening from welcoming the public in all the municipalities on their coast, while the spring school holidays begin for part of France.
"The rental, for tourist purposes, of hotel rooms as well as tourist accommodation or any other accommodation intended for seasonal rental is prohibited" in the twenty municipalities of the Girondine coast, among them Lacanau, Lège-Cap-Ferret and Arcachon, explained the prefecture of Gironde in a press release. This decree aims to "deal with possible displacements of people towards tourist places during the spring holidays", according to the press release.
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The prefect of Pyrénées-Atlantiques did the same on the coast of the Basque Country, from Bayonne to Hendaye, a coastal sector including in particular popular seaside resorts like Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. "The massive influx of people would favor contagion and could lead to strong tensions on the already mobilized health establishments, in particular on the resuscitation services" , indicated this prefecture in a press release.
These measures, which apply until April 15, "do not concern accommodation for the regular domicile of the people who live there, emergency accommodation or accommodation for professional needs" , according to the two prefectures.
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Friday morning, the prefecture of another tourist department of New Aquitaine, Charente-Maritime, where the islands of Ré and Oléron are located, had sent tourist accommodation rental companies a "solemn warning" , asking them "urgently (...) to take all the necessary measures so that no seasonal rental not meeting an imperative and duly justified professional reason takes place until the end of confinement" .
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Thursday urged the French concerned by the start of the school holidays, ie zone C (Ile-de-France and Occitanie), not to leave and in particular asked the prefects to check the level of seasonal rentals in tourist areas.