Who says traders are never happy? Certainly not the Hauts-de-France Regional Tourism Committee, which published on Thursday a survey of 501 tourism professionals. And the summer’s record is good, very good even when compared to last year’s attendance figures. Respondents, however, raised a downside, that of the health pass, introduced in early August.
For the summer season 2021, tourism professionals could not but be optimistic, the coronavirus epidemic having wreaked havoc over the past summer. While we are still far from 100% occupancy of tourist accommodation, this rate has nevertheless jumped compared to 2020. In August, in Hauts-de-France, the occupancy rate of hotels, for example, rose from 53% last summer to 65% in 2021. All types of accommodation combined, it is 62% against 60% a year ago. It is even more striking on the coast where hotels were 82% down, far ahead of the countryside (64%) and the city (63%).
Locals, foreigners and health pass
We are not going to lie to each other, not all of France came to Hauts-de-France to enjoy our beautiful and immense beaches. The survey reveals that tourists favored proximity, 40% of the French clientele of accommodation being made up of people from the region. But we are also seeing a return of foreign customers, overwhelmingly made up of our Belgian neighbors and friends.
So, if nearly 70% of the professionals questioned are satisfied with their summer, a good part nevertheless affirms that “the implementation of the health pass had a negative impact on their attendance”. They estimate this decrease at -18% compared to a “normal” year. According to the study, it would even reach 34% in tourist facilities excluding accommodation.