Three-quarters of French who plan to vacation will stay in the country between June and September. This bodes well for a record summer for tourist numbers. This represents an increase of 2% in terms of forecasts compared to 2022.
Of these, an identical proportion – 73% – prefer local destinations (in France), and 60% are planning an extended stay, compared with 56% last year, according to a joint survey of a representative sample of the French population of 2,000 people carried out by the tourism development agency about France.
Compared to last year’s period, overall bookings for the season have increased by 5%. International customer bookings have seen a significant increase of 18%. The coast is the most popular destination among travelers, accounting for 42% of bookings, followed by the countryside at 21%, mountains at 11%, urban areas at 12%, and roaming at 8%.
Towards a record number of visitors?
It will be a summer in which French tourism will exceed the record of 2019 in terms of the number of visitors.
Since the beginning of the year, the return of international customers has continued, with international tourism revenues up 21% from January to April compared to 2019, the benchmark year before the pandemic.
The highest spending foreign tourists come from Belgium, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany. 2022 was already a record year for international tourism receipts, with almost 58 billion euros. France states this threshold should be exceeded in 2023, barring major climatic or geopolitical events.
According to the Minister of Tourism, flights from China have increased from 16 weekly rotations in the spring to 50 since June 10, more than those from Canada, the United States, and Germany. In the hotel sector, occupancy rates from January to May are already up 7.5% in 2022, to an average of 70% in mainland France.
