Unsurprisingly, the start of the year was brutal for French hotels.
On Monday, INSEE provided its estimate of hotel attendance for the first quarter of 2021. The figures speak for themselves: while the epidemic was regaining ground in France, leading to the third confinement, the rooms remained desperately empty and the attendance peaked "
at a third of its usual level
".
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In the first quarter, only six out of ten hotels were open in mainland France, compared to nearly nine out of ten (87%) a year earlier, at the same time.
In addition, the occupancy rate of open establishments remained low, at only 32%, against 55% at the start of 2018 and 2019 and just over 40% in 2020: "
barely a third of the rooms offered are occupied
", summarizes INSEE.
14.8 million overnight stays were recorded in the quarter, ie “a
third compared to 2018 and 2019
”.
The results are bitter: "
one year after the start of the health crisis, the number of overnight stays in the first quarter of 2021 is 64% lower than the average for the first quarters of the two years preceding the health crisis
", state statisticians.
In detail, the finding differs depending on the region. Shunned by foreign visitors and business customers, Île-de-France is devastated, with attendance down 81%. The provincial metropolises have also suffered, as have the “
hotels located in ski resorts
”: the latter could not count on the ski lifts, which were closed despite numerous appeals from professionals. The frequentation in the massifs of ski thus collapsed by 84% compared to the average of the first quarters "
of the two years preceding the health crisis
".
This is the most marked decline of all tourist areas, weighing down the overall balance sheet of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. But all regions are experiencing a drop in the number of hotel nights of at least 40% compared to the first three months of 2018 and 2019. The most luxurious establishments, popular with wealthy foreign customers, are also the most affected by the crisis: the number of overnight stays has collapsed by more than 75% in 4 or 5 star hotels, while the decline is around 62% in other classified establishments.
Hoteliers are now counting on the summer of 2021 to bail out crates in a sorry state. The executive also encourages the French to favor travel in France, to support the activity of the sector: "
this summer, the holidays are in France
", encouraged the Elysee in early June. “
I want to say in 2021, the holidays are in France and it's even better. We have these territories which are absolutely magnificent, these countryside, this rurality,
”argued Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. There remains the threat of the Delta variant and a resumption of the epidemic, which weighs on the summer period and the prospects for the tourism and hotel sector.
