For travelers around the world, the frustration accumulated by forced immobility during the health crisis could turn into a frenzied desire to travel.
the American consulting firm McKinsey & Company even gave it a name: "revenge travel", which can be translated as "revenge tourism".
The phenomenon, which appeared in China and India, is now reaching the West.
Joanne Dreyfus, transport, hospitality and services manager at Deloitte, an audit and consulting firm, sees the wave rising in France.
LE FIGARO. - Despite an uncertain recovery date, should professionals already prepare for a possible peak in attendance?
Joanne DREYFUS - Yes, without a doubt!
The French are no different from other nationalities, the accumulated frustration is present.
As we saw last summer, the ability to travel caused significant congestion in some popular destinations such as the Côte d'Azur.
The peak in attendance promises to be less violent than in 2020. But after this experience, some vacationers may be more cautious to go to these popular areas, where everyone will probably not be vaccinated.
Those who have had to postpone reservations will also try to use their holdings, which requires a bit of anticipation.
Without forgetting that behind the irrepressible desire to travel lies an economic reality: partial unemployment has been established over time and some companies have had social plans.
The great difficulty for tourism professionals will therefore be to anticipate the volume of travelers for the summer season, in order to better adjust their offer.
On what criteria will travelers make their choice?
France has so many assets that it will always attract.
But for the next two seasons, the establishments usually frequented by Russian, American or Asian customers will have to be renewed.
In this competitive race, the personalization of services will make the difference.
Hoteliers must know their customers and anticipate their needs in order to create envy.
An individual who receives an email with a personalized offer (connecting room for a family, easy access to the spa for a couple, etc.) will tend to book in advance to ensure the availability of the product.
Travelers will also remain attentive to health security.
According to one of our recent surveys, 41% of French people feel confident in a hotel.
This is good, but there is still room for improvement.
Joanne Dreyfus Deloitte
Is the eco-responsible component associated with economic recovery?
We saw the positive effects of the interruption of tourism on our cities and we realized that we could not start again as before.
Instead of escaping for a weekend in Spain or Portugal, some travelers have discovered their region, new types of accommodation, and new desires have emerged.
At Deloitte, our teams responsible for understanding the behavior of hotel customers focused only on so-called historical data (reservation times, customer profile, etc.) and on so-called external data (congresses, city events, etc.).
Today, we are working on adding different hypotheses related to the environmental aspect to see how flows can move according to new consumer wishes.
This is a real repositioning, but lasting awareness is a criterion that we can no longer do without.