Easter obliges, no work this Monday. An ideal scenario for those who want to go green for a long weekend. Étienne, 46 years old, nurse in Paris, will leave for Cabourg; Laurène, 29, manager in an environmental NGO, will take the train from Switzerland to Ariège and Alexis, 31, pastry chef, the car from Bordeaux where he lives, to Biarritz.
Yesterday, all these beautiful people used to take off for the weekend to Rome, Porto or Barcelona. A change which has several explanations.
Closer therefore more practical
A desire for lightness, first of all.
“People have a sufficiently complicated daily life that they don't want to worry when they go on a weekend,”
summarizes Jean-François Rial, CEO of Voyageurs du Monde, who regularly takes the temperature of his clients.
Spot on for Alexis. A former lover of escapades in Europe, for 5-6 years he has only sworn by trips close to home, happy to relieve himself of the mental burden of having to book his train or plane ticket or his room. hotel in advance, having to allow extra time to get to the airport or train station and being well informed about the chosen destination to be sure to make the most of your time there…
“There, I can make up my mind on a whim and arrive in a nice place in just 1-1.5 hours by car,”
he explains. Its new flagship destinations: Saint-Émilion, Biarritz, Saint-Sébastien and even its city of residence, Bordeaux.
The same goes for Étienne. Formerly accustomed to frolicking between European capitals, he has slowed down since the birth of his three boys aged 4, 7 and 11.
“Between the luggage and transportation, it’s too much organization for so little time on site. I wouldn’t even be able to take full advantage of it,”
imagines the forty-year-old. Instead, he favors vacations two hours by car from his home, in Cabourg, Rouen, Fontainebleau, Reims…
“There, I just have accommodation to book and that’s it!”
, he assumes.
“The bill can quickly rise to 300-400 euros on weekends”
All for half the budget, what's more.
“Between the price of tickets, accommodation, restaurants and potential activities on site, the bill can quickly rise to 300-400 euros on weekends,”
laments Alexis, who spends three times less when he walks near home, whether he has lunch at Cap Ferret, spends the day in a spa in Spain or visits a nearby vineyard.
“And again, I won’t tell you the budget for this kind of trip abroad for a family of five…”,
quips Étienne, who favors renting large houses with gardens, for which he pays on average €100 the night.
“The children can play football and run around while we relax on a deckchair. Everyone is happy,”
he rejoices.
Étienne and Alexis seem to be in tune with the rest of the population. According to the OpinionWay 2023 barometer of French departure intentions, 73% of vacationers had planned, last year, to stay in France because of the inflationary context.
“There is just as much to do and discover close to home!”
For Laurène, it is her ecological commitment which is at the origin of her change of habits. As a teenager, she already took the plane several times for a weekend, to go to Barcelona or Prague with friends.
“It was before realizing its impact on the climate,”
she recalls. At that time, we were in the early 2000s, the plane was becoming more popular among all levels of the population. It’s the golden age of low-cost: flying is
“in fashion”.
Six IPCC reports later, taking him, especially for a brief stay, seems unthinkable for the young woman. Today, she spends her weekends almost exclusively just a stone's throw from home, hiking in the Swiss mountains, cycling, climbing or simply enjoying the surrounding towns, their markets, their restaurants. , their coffees...
Other figures illustrate this trend towards ultra-local. At Staycation, a company that offers residents of their city the opportunity to stay in luxury hotels near their homes, while enjoying exclusive services, 80% of platform users book within two hours of their home, 50% within less than 6km, or less than 30 minutes from their home. A
“relocation of travel that would remain for us from the Covid era”
, theorizes Jean-François Rial. During the pandemic, many have made their street corner a place to escape. This is clearly still the case today.
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