The crisis seems forgotten for tourists who visited the French Riviera in the second quarter of 2011, as their numbers increased and they significantly raised their spending levels.
For the first time since 2006, the average spending of tourists arriving by plane surpassed the threshold of 100 euros per day/person (109 euros), increasing by 59% compared to 2010. This euphoria is experienced by both French tourists (one must even go back to 2002 to find such high daily spending) and foreigners, but it is significantly more pronounced for business trips.
Spending per stay also increased by 23% and reached 667 euros, the best result since 2006. With this sudden return to normalcy in the second quarter of 2011, the long-term trend of average spending growth has returned to its historical pace, about +2% per year on average, just in line with inflation.
It is noteworthy that this resurgence in consumption is not felt by tourism professionals. An opinion survey conducted in mid-June shows that only 13% of hotels and 6% of restaurants observed an increase in average spending in May-June compared to the previous year.
