Tourism figures continue to rise in France

In the wake of the progress report published in mid-summer, which already showed an improvement in tourism in France, the INSEE (French agency of statistics) published a rather encouraging traditional assessment report of the season in October regarding the attractiveness of France.

Commercial and non-commercial tourism

What are the different forms of tourism? The INSEE report shows that until June 2022, resident tourists spent as many nights in non-commercial accommodation (secondary residence, family or friends) as in commercial accommodation, or more outside the summer period. However, this year, commercial accommodation (hotels, campsites, other tourist accommodation such as private rentals) “became the main mode of accommodation for tourists residing in mainland France”.

As an example, in July 2022, residents of mainland France spent 79.7 million nights in commercial accommodation and 62.5 million nights in non-commercial accommodation.

International recovery

The INSEE indicates that this recovery is in part due to “a return of main international customers in hotels and campsites”. This return can be seen in the attendance levels in the June-August 22 period for commercial accommodation that went up 3% compared with pre-crisis level. It is worth noting that in summer 2022 foreign visitors spent 7% more than in summer 2019[1].

In addition to the figures, the INSEE notes a number of trends by nationalities in the momentum of attractiveness pickup for international tourists in France:

• attendance of American and British clients, the two main international customer groups in hotels, gradually rose back to the level of the July-August 2019 period;
• Dutch, German and Belgian clients, the main international clientele in campsites was already at historical level in 2021 and rose even more in 2022;
• British customers, on the other hand, have only returned to 72% of their 2019 level;
• the other customer groups are almost all equally present in 2022, including tourists from countries outside Europe, such as the Americas and the Middle East;
• Russian, Japanese and especially Chinese customers are still missing.

Paris and its region in demand

“Attendance levels finally reach the pre-crisis level in the Ile-de-France region,” notes the INSEE, which believes that this return of national and international customers is particularly beneficial to Paris and the Ile-de-France region.

From June 2022, the level of hotel occupancy in Paris and its region will reach, for the first time since the beginning of the health crisis, that of 2019. Similarly, “hotel occupancy in urban areas, which as impacted by the low level of presence of international tourists before the summer of 2022, returned to levels comparable to 2019”.

Apart from hotel accommodation, rentals from individuals seem to have benefited from this return. INSEE notes that “the number of comments left on the Airbnb website regarding a rental in Paris is well above the 2019 level”.

[1] According to INSEE, this increase may be due to a relatively large increase in prices in the summer of 2022 compared to 2019 in the tourism sectors: +13% for market accommodation and +8% for consumer prices (cafes and restaurants).

To know more: 

 - INSEE statistics report

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