The announcements of a gradual deconfinement by Emmanuel Macron have given the French people hope for a vacation.
As a result of lifting the 10-kilometer restriction around his home from May 3, bookings at campsites and by the sea have risen sharply in recent days.
And this resumption of activity is also felt in the “travel” departments of bookstores.
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"Precisely this afternoon, I sold 3 or 4 travel guides on Spain, one on Portugal and others on Italy"
, testifies Valérie, employee of the Géothèque bookstore in Nantes, specializing in international travel books and in France.
“Since the start of the year, international guides have barely sold, but in recent weeks we have seen a slight recovery in the capitals of southern Europe or the island of Madeira and the Balearic Islands in Spain. »
, Abounds in the Esprit Livre bookstore in Charenton-le-Pont (Val-de-Marne). These countries allow French nationals to come and spend their holidays there, subject to presenting a negative PCR test.
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Our map, country by country
Nothing surprising for Valérie who remembers that in December already, she had noticed an increase in sales of guides on Reunion Island, Martinique or even Guadeloupe.
Many metropolitan residents had in fact chosen to spend their winter holidays under the coconut palms for lack of being able to go skiing, the resorts being kept closed.
“We said to ourselves that these places should welcome tourists when we realized that we were selling three guides to the same destination in one day,”
laughs Valérie.
French regions at the top of sales
Europe is not the only one to seduce customers in search of vacations.
The health crisis and travel restrictions have indeed pushed travelers to favor France for their stays.
In 2020, 90% of French people went to mainland France, against 81% in 2019, according to the 19th Opodo-Raffour barometer published last March.
As a result, the regional guides sold well last year, explained to Le Vieux Campeur:
“99% of our sales last year and again this year are travel guides in France, in particular small and great hikes
”.
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However, the bookstore located in the 5th arrondissement notes disparities. “
Some guides continue to do well, like those on Santiago de Compostela. But unlike the previous year, in 2020, we sold very few books on Corsica, which are usually in high demand
”
.
Unable to leave their region, or even in recent months to move away more than 10 kilometers from their home,
"our customers were looking for hiking possibilities near their homes, in Île-de-France"
, explains the specialist bookstore. in travel. Now the French are starting to imagine their next routes, notes Valérie.
"People rather bought guides on the surroundings of Nantes and there, sales are starting to extend beyond the region, particularly in the Pyrenees"
.
A way to escape while staying at home
In general, if sales of guides have fallen sharply with the health crisis and the inability to travel, the “travel” sections of bookstores have not been completely deserted by customers.
“It was above all the dream and the hope of being able to leave that pushed people to walk through our shelves,” we
note at Le Vieux Baroudeur.
Getting away from home without leaving home, an essential need that has led some French people to turn to travel literature, notes Valérie. Its Nantes bookstore has enriched its shelves with this literary genre, whose novels describe expeditions and explorations to the four corners of the world. In the same way, the bookstore had to expand its “kitchen” section in the face of the increase in sales with an appetite from its customers for foreign cuisine.
“It's another form of travel that allows you to dream a little, I imagine,”
says Valérie. After a year of imaginary getaways, the French will soon be able to take off, strictly speaking, to new horizons.
