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Tourism: how Ile-de-France wants to emerge from a "nightmarish" year

2021-04-04T09:19:34.385Z


The health crisis deprived Paris and its region of 15.5 billion euros in revenue and 33 million foreign visitors last year. U


Paris, the capital of tourism, was before.

The Covid torpedoed one of the flagship sectors of the Ile-de-France economy.

The numbers are brutal.

Last year, the capital received some 33.1 million fewer tourists than the previous year.

Like all destinations, it has suffered from an unprecedented "collapse" in demand and "the widespread introduction of travel restrictions", according to the latest report from the Regional Tourism Committee (CRT).

Paris and Île-de-France welcomed some 17.5 million tourists in 2020, including 12.6 million French, a sign of an “unprecedented deterioration in tourist activity”.

These visitors generated 6.4 billion euros in tourism revenue.

Unsurprisingly, the drop "is more marked for international customers with -78% of stays" against "-56% for French customers", or 15.7 million fewer tourists from France compared to 2019.

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"Tourist activity has completely stopped from mid-March" with the start of the first confinement, according to the CRT.

Then "a certain recovery was noted" at the end of these restrictions, "from May 11" and until the second confinement at the end of October.

Business tourism has suffered particularly

“Tourism in Paris Île-de-France was thus able to benefit from a period of respite, particularly between July and October, with an activity mainly driven by Ile-de-France residents, the French and a few local customers - Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy. "

Very tried, the hotel industry has "suffered the full brunt of the absence of business and international customers" and a number of establishments closed from mid-March to the end of May, then from the end of October.

This resulted in a 68% drop in hotel nights in 2020, compared to -55% for seasonal rentals, compared to 2019.

With its 995 rooms, the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile (17th century), like almost all hotels, has been hit hard by the health crisis./LP/Olivier Boitet  

The hotels in the capital have particularly suffered from the absence of international customers, "70% of their turnover being generated by it", especially in high-end establishments, recalls the CRT, while the frequentation of museums and monuments suffered greatly from “140 days of exceptional closure”.

The Louvre museum and the Versailles estate have thus seen their attendance plummet by 72% and 76% respectively (see infographic).

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As for business tourism in Paris Île-de-France, which "can represent up to half of hotel nights" per year, it has suffered greatly with the cascading cancellation of trade fairs and professional events, but remains a " powerful lever ”for the recovery.

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“We have had 700 trade fairs canceled over the past year, we were the world's leading destination for this sector of activity which includes trade fair organizers as well as caterers, florists and image companies, explains Hamida Rezeg, vice-president of tourism for the region.

And there are big holes in the racket for this sector in terms of state aid.

We believe that we need to experiment with sanitary protocols that allow us to reopen fairly quickly with sanitary conditions and adapted gauges. ”

Tourism volunteers trained in health rules

But in this sector, as in others, the outlook remains particularly gloomy.

According to a study by the World Tourism Committee, economic players do not foresee a return to "normal" activity before 2023 to regain levels of attendance and financial income equivalent to what existed before the massive blow of the Covid.

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This does not prevent initiatives to try to restart tourism this summer.

"To reassure tourists, we are going to launch a regional health label by this summer," says Hamida Rezeg.

We are still working with the Regional Tourism Committee and the Institut Pasteur to develop it.

The idea is to label places of culture and tourism so that visitors know that here all the protocols are ready to ensure perfect sanitary quality. "

Finally, the region also relies on its “tourism volunteers” to allow a resumption of tourist activity.

Set up in 2016 to help the sector after the terrorist attacks in particular, they will be used again this year.

“We are expecting at least 1,000 volunteers this summer, who will have been trained in barrier gestures and in compliance with health rules.

The idea is really to do everything so that the activity starts again as soon as possible.

This summer will not be like the others, but our desire is to make it a tourist, cultural and sporting summer. ”

Source: leparis

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