The magic of Christmas is in full play this year for the Gîtes de France. The national network of gîtes and guest rooms is recording "record occupancy rates" for these 2023 Christmas holidays, its general manager, Solange Escure, said on Saturday on Franceinfo. Three out of four accommodations (75%) are rented for these end-of-year holidays.
Among the most popular destinations for holidaymakers are "Alsace for Christmas markets", the most famous in France. But also the North, as well as of course mountainous departments such as the Vosges or Savoie. The French obviously want to ski. "Bookings are up 3% compared to the winter of 2022-2033, which had been very good in terms of attendance and occupancy of commercial accommodation, and less so in terms of skier days. People obviously need to decompress," Jean-Luc Boch, president of the National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts (ANMSM), told Le Figaro at the end of last week.
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Currently, bookings are excellent, especially for this Christmas and New Year's Eve period," Patrick Provost, president of the National Observatory of Mountain Resorts (OSM), confirmed on Saturday on Franceinfo, specifying that "during the week of Christmas, but also the week of New Year's Day, we are on average at 75% of bookings, with an increase of two points over the week of Christmas".
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Feeling like skiing... and also sunshine
For the mountain resorts, the Christmas holidays are therefore looking very promising, despite a train offer that is considered insufficient. The ANMSM denounces a "shortage of trains" that is penalizing, both for the number of passengers and for the carbon footprint of ski holidays. The trains offered for sale at the beginning of October were all taken by storm: "It was impossible to find a train at the last minute to go skiing," Jean-Luc Boch told AFP.
For its part, the SNCF replies that, on the weekends of the winter holidays, "the TGV fleet is fully mobilised", with "the maximum number of available trains" made available. More generally, all destinations combined, the railway company said on Friday that "more than 4.5 million journeys have been booked to date on long-distance trains - TGV Inoui, OUIGO and Intercités - for the Christmas holidays", figures that are slightly higher than in 2022.
At the Gîtes de France, we observe that a more exotic destination is doing well this winter, Reunion, denoting a "desire for sun" of the French, according to Solange Escure. "Despite prices still rising, mainly because of air travel, the French want to look elsewhere, to take their minds off things," Valérie Boned, president of Entreprises du Voyage, confirmed in our columns this week.
This observation of a good tourist season ahead for the Christmas holidays is not shared by all stakeholders. For example, PAP Vacances, a platform for private seasonal rentals, notes "a drop in the number of general booking requests" of 8.6% compared to 2022. The result, according to the site, is "fiscal pressures due to rising inflation." An almost general decline, with the exception of the Alps (+11.4%) and Spain (+22.9%).