Key figures for visitors related to the year 2009: -10% at the Tourist Office, arrivals by plane: +15% (for business, 38% and for leisure, 62% of the total visitors), museums and sites: +5%, hotel stays: +1% (foreigners make up 40% of the total) and stays in hotel residences: -13%
The barometer
The overall trend in 2010 appears especially positive in hotels and for the air travel segment for business purposes, but the overall volume including non-commercial remains only slightly increasing. The average expenditure of visitors remains very stable compared to last year.
Visits to tourist offices saw a decrease of -3%, identical to the air travel segment for leisure purposes (actually only in the first half of the year). In contrast, the business travel segment grew by 9% thanks to a strong fourth quarter. The trend is positive in museums and sites, with a gain of 3%.
In accommodations, the evolution remains negative for holiday villages and Gîtes de France, it is stable in residences and excellent in the hotel sector. The hotel mode thus gains 8% in overnight stays, and the average room occupancy increases by 3 points on average since April. It is the 4-5* hotels that benefit the most (overnight stays +19%).
There is a nice recovery in domestic demand, with a growth of 3% for commercial accommodations, and a strong rebound of 18% for overall demand by the end of October.
Foreign demand also recovers with an average increase of 8% in hotel residences.
Cyclical analysis
The average spending of foreign clients (traveling by plane) has been improving since this summer. In the third quarter, it averaged 75 euros per day (+3% compared to summer 2009), while it was 81 euros in the fourth quarter, representing a 28% rebound compared to the last quarter of 2009.
The spending of foreign clients thus returned to its 2007 level, though still below previous years. Over the entire year 2010, foreigners spent an average of 74 euros per day, compared to 60 in 2008, 77 in 2007, but 133 euros in 2005 (an all-time high).
For stay expenditures, the year 2002 marked a peak at 984 euros per foreign visitor. This average budget fell to 564 euros in 2008 and recovered to 644 euros in 2009. No change is observed in 2010, with spending per stay remaining at this level, satisfactory but still relatively low.
For French visitors, there is a mere consolidation of the spending level in 2010 at only 365 euros per stay, compared to 372 in 2009. The purchasing power of the French remains constrained, and a large proportion of visitors stay in non-commercial accommodations, limiting their spending.
Across all origins, it is worth noting that the recovery in spending levels is mainly due to business-oriented visitors (133 euros per day compared to 112 in 2009), and particularly to congress attendees (MICE segment) whose daily spending increased by 37% in 2010, averaging 270 euros per day compared to 197 in 2009 (only the years 2002-5 surpassed this level).
The average spending of foreign clients (traveling by plane) has been improving since this summer. In the third quarter, it averaged 75 euros per day (+3% compared to summer 2009), while it was 81 euros in the fourth quarter, representing a 28% rebound compared to the last quarter of 2009.
The spending of foreign clients thus returned to its 2007 level, though still below previous years. Over the entire year 2010, foreigners spent an average of 74 euros per day, compared to 60 in 2008, 77 in 2007, but 133 euros in 2005 (an all-time high).
For stay expenditures, the year 2002 marked a peak at 984 euros per foreign visitor. This average budget fell to 564 euros in 2008 and recovered to 644 euros in 2009. No change is observed in 2010, with spending per stay remaining at this level, satisfactory but still relatively low.
For French visitors, there is a mere consolidation of the spending level in 2010 at only 365 euros per stay, compared to 372 in 2009. The purchasing power of the French remains constrained, and a large proportion of visitors stay in non-commercial accommodations, limiting their spending.
Across all origins, it is worth noting that the recovery in spending levels is mainly due to business-oriented visitors (133 euros per day compared to 112 in 2009), and particularly to congress attendees (MICE segment) whose daily spending increased by 37% in 2010, averaging 270 euros per day compared to 197 in 2009 (only the years 2002-5 surpassed this level).
Source: Touriscope
