The desire to leave is reborn among the French.
The gradual deconfinement schedule announced by the executive last week marks the end of the restriction on interregional travel and more than 10 km since Monday, May 3.
It is already causing an influx of bookings in France for the May bridges and spring weekends, with summer holidays in their sights.
Read also: Deconfinement: can we travel to Corsica and overseas from May 3?
Faced with an unstable health situation and the fear of Covid-19 variants, tourism professionals are betting more on a “Franco-French” spring and summer period.
A kind of copy-paste of last year (94% of the French had remained in France), encouraged both by promotional offers and the government.
“We are moving towards a gradual return to normal”
which allows us to project ourselves into July / August, indicated on Friday April 30 on BFM TV the Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, pleading for
“a blue, white summer, red ”
.
Read also: Ponts de May: our ideas for an escape to the great outdoors in France
Demand for Europe
The loosening of the sanitary corset in four stages, culminating in the end of the curfew on June 30, draws a perspective that may be broader for the French than domestic territory alone.
Since Monday, tourists can reach airport stations without restriction, this reason even appearing on the certificate, which is still compulsory during curfew hours (7 p.m. - 6 a.m.).
France does not prohibit travel to Europe, on condition of producing a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours upon return.
Read also: The obstacle course of the French who travel despite everything in Europe
Travel beyond that is prohibited for the moment, unless there is a compelling reason.
Will
this “
revenge travel
” materialize in more departures abroad?
Read also: Covid-19: travelers in quarantine now controlled by French police
Despite border restrictions and pleas not to travel, the French have not been prohibited from enjoying the terraces and the sun far from France in recent months.
In March, up to 4,000 of our compatriots landed in Spain every day, with Madrid in the lead.
More surprisingly, despite the theoretical obstacles, the language of Molière also resonates on the side of Dubai.
Read also: One way to Dubai, where French tourists come to forget the confinement
The desire is there, even if, for the moment, the Old Continent offers only a limited choice of destinations. And our neighbors, who are slowly deconfining themselves, formulate heterogeneous demands. Denmark or Finland always lock their borders. Italy or Portugal impose isolation or quarantine on the French, even if they intend to welcome them this summer.
But Guillaume Linton, managing director of the travel agency Asia, has observed for a few days an acceleration of reservations to southern Europe - Greece then Spain in the lead - on "
long weekends
". In these two countries, a preliminary form and a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours are sufficient. Jean-Pierre Mas, president of the Travel Companies (EdV), also evokes the popularity of Croatia, which requires “only” a PCR of less than 48 hours. "
Nothing very original as a request
," he smiles.
We had already started to register an increase in requests during the last week.
The French are used to PCR, it bothers them much less than before.
Now, we can count on a small “boom” in Europe, which goes in both directions.
France will also regain its attractiveness.
"
IN VIDEO - "End of May, beginning of June we can use the vaccination to travel overseas or Corsica" announces Cédric O
Tourism players and travelers are now watching for the establishment of the health pass to bring order to the conditions of access to countries.
The "pass" has been tested since last week in France for flights to Corsica.
The European Commission is counting on a coordinated deployment at the end of June.
"The health certificate [...] is to give the same weight to the vaccination, to the PCR test and to the immunity acquired by the contraction of the virus.
So there is no travel condition linked to vaccination, ”
repeats Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
Read also: No, you will not need to be vaccinated to travel this summer (in Europe)
Thefts multiply
Transavia management notes
"a strong acceleration in reservations in recent days".
Rawf8 / stock.adobe.com
Airlines confirm this increase in demand.
The management of Transavia, the low-cost airline of Air France-KLM, notes
"a strong acceleration in bookings in recent days",
with 40% additional sales last week, compared to the previous week.
For the Ascension Bridge (May 13-16), the company is adding 60 flights for last-minute getaways.
In May, ticket sales mainly concern France, in particular routes such as Orly-Toulon, Orly-Biarritz, Nantes-Nice or Nantes-Marseille.
Read also: Santorini, Menorca, Calvi or Sfax ... The new summer air destinations
But for July and August, European seaside destinations are preferred.
Transavia is already indicating that Greece will be its flagship destination, well ahead of the Balearics and then the Canaries:
"the current rate of sales to Greece in July / August has almost returned to its pre-crisis level".
The Spanish company Vueling is increasing its frequencies to Spain, Portugal and Italy this month.
Flights between Paris and Barcelona will more than double, those to Mallorca will drop from 1 to 6 weekly frequencies from next week.
But the hope of traveling beyond is there, according to professionals.
"
We feel a real thirst for travel,"
testifies Guillaume Linton
.
Asia has noted an increase in requests or reservations for three long-haul routes in particular: Dubai, the Maldives and the Seychelles.
“
Our customers are well aware that they are prohibited from leaving France
,” explains the tour operator.
Also, they ask to transit through European capitals to circumvent the constraint of the imperative reason.
C
'
is what our customers want most: the lifting of the compelling reason to go away.
"
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