“Tourism is one of the biggest industries of domestic economy.” This is what the French ministry of economy points out when it says that France is the first tourism destination worldwide in terms of visitors’ intake, with about 90 million international tourists in 2019, and the 3rd destination in terms of revenue generated by international tourism.

In addition to the INSEE (the French institute of economic statistics studies), Atout France, the French agency for the development of tourism in France, frequently publishes its own statistics studies, including Trend Keynotes, to assess the major trends in tourism in France. And the latest Keynote confirms that the start of year 2022 shows an improvement of tourist activity in France, a trend that had been forming for a time. As such, “international flows continue to close the gap with pre-crisis figures, month after month”.

Figures show that in spite of revenues of international tourism in France registering a 8.2% decrease in February 2022 compared to February 2019, such decrease is significantly tightening. However, the Keynote also indicates that “flows from Asia are still numb”, and positive results come from the return of European clients and the strong resilience of the American market.

Whatever the reasons, France is still leader in terms of international revenue for the last quarter of 2021 and over the year 2021, with 17.7% of market shares in the European Union. But, Atout France says, among European countries leaders in terms of tourism, there is a “sharp rebound” from Spain and Italy, the latest being “in a strong momentum”.

In March, Atout France also conducted a study about travel intentions in France. The study shows that out of 10 respondents, nine declare considering a leisure stay in the next six months. This is an “un precedented level reached since the start of the collection in May 2020”. Detailed responses show that “Americans still mostly favour their residence country”, but on the contrary, three Europeans out of four plan to travel between April and September 2022, including the Belgians and Swiss, who “massively plan to travel abroad, to a European destination”. And France seems to be the destination of choice for the Belgians, the Italians and the Spanish, but also the Americans “for those who will choose Europe”.

And if indicators are to be trusted, France may bet on a great tourist season. However, Atout France says that “though the sun starts to shine again for the tourist industry, clouds coming from the war in Ukraine may darken the sky”. And “issues in relation with security and reassurance challenges towards a part of clients should be factored in over the coming months”.

Additional factors create uncertainty: the increase of gas prices and other goods “impacting the purchasing power of households”, and “the inflationist context emerging, reinforced by recruitment troubles in designated tourist careers”.

But Atout France still concludes its study with a positive word: despite “a complex geopolitical context, after two frustrating years, the appetite for travels is still here, and intentions of stays are clearly improving in all sectors! All markets studied reach scores never achieved before: international clients should be back to France!”.

To know more:

• Official tourism stats
• Atout France Trend Keynote

Photo credit: © Anna Berkut – stock.adobe.com