The tourist attendance at hotels and collective accommodations in France, the world’s leading tourist destination in 2015 with 84.7 million foreign visitors, significantly declined in the second quarter (-4.8% compared to the same period in 2015).
The causes were the attacks and the bad weather, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), which published these figures on Friday, August 19. As a result, there was a noticeable impact on the number of foreign overnight stays (-8.5%) and, to a lesser extent, on the stays of residents (-2.9%).
This trend suggests even more concerning results when the figures for the summer season, affected by the Nice attack on July 14, become available.
The first quarter had already been significantly affected by the decline in foreign attendance (-2.7%), but the drop in the second quarter was “comparable to that observed in the fourth quarter of 2015, following the November attacks,” notes Insee.
Despite an improvement in the first quarter (+1.9%), overnight stays in the hotel sector decreased again (-3.5% year-on-year) in the second quarter. For the third consecutive quarter, it is the foreign tourists who are absent (-7.3%).
The French authorities have set a goal to welcome 100 million foreign tourists by 2020.
