If 2006 won’t go down in the record books as a year of spectacular turnover, it will be added to the decade of calm seasons in Nice, perhaps too calm. Indeed, the wrath of Nice merchants is once again falling upon the prefecture and its decisions made a few years ago concerning the closing times of bars.
Michel Maiffret, proprietor of Opéra Plage, summarizes the season: “It’s not quite over, but based on the last few weeks, we are projecting a 5 to 10% decrease in turnover compared to last year. It must also be said that 2005 was an exceptionally profitable year, and thus, this year’s revenues are still reasonable. The peculiarity of the summer of 2006 is certainly its fluctuating sales. The heat, for instance, decreased the number of restaurant clients because people were too hot to eat or even go to the beach. And jellyfish ended up discouraging the more daring. Despite this, Nice remains highly touristic, and we benefit from that influx. Moreover, the purchasing power of foreigners on vacation is considerably higher than that of the French, which ensures a relatively comfortable season even without the help of wary locals.”
While the results are not especially positive, they are not disastrous either. The only dark spot: the closing times. Michel Maiffret remembers the parties he used to host until dawn ten years ago. For him, lifting the prefectural decree during the summer would solve many problems: “In addition to forcing beach proprietors to rely solely on daytime consumption, it compels late-night youth to wander on the beach, swigging from bottles they will break minutes later on the pebbles. Fights have now become very common at night on the Promenade des Anglais because of all these customers who are expelled from the bars at 2 AM and find themselves together and intoxicated.” Indeed, in comparison to other major urban centers, Nice goes to bed early. For the top tourist city in France, it might be shooting oneself in the foot to force a portion of its clientele to head to bed in the middle of the night. For the owner of Opéra Plage, there is no doubt: for a season, Nice should relearn the taste of sleepless nights.
