Two years after the July 14th attack that cast a shadow over the Côte d’Azur and scared away tourists, the Côte d’Azur is bouncing back.
The CRT barometer shows this clearly, with supporting figures: urban hotels have just recorded, for the month of July, an occupancy rate close to 85%, which is an increase of 4 points, and a revenue increase of 20% compared to July 2017.
This promising result follows one of the best hotel occupancy rates (75%) recorded for a month of June in recent years. The total number of hotel and tourist residence overnight stays thus increased by 3% compared to June 2017.
Among the explanations put forward by professionals are the plenty of sunshine in July, music festivals offering a wide range of musical choices, and sports: the impact of the World Cup cannot be overlooked either. Moreover, establishments that set up giant screens were packed, unlike snack bars, which were at a disadvantage.
The outlook for the 2018 summer season is good.
In the hotel industry, by the end of July, there is about a +5% increase in booking rates for August and September.
According to the ForwardKeys indicator on flight bookings, by the end of June as well, the trend was positive with a +3.4% increase in the volume of foreign bookings to the Nice-Côte d’Azur region between the months of July and September. The flow of non-European visitors shows remarkable dynamism, notably Americans (+28%), Japanese (+40%), and South Americans (+24%).
Tourist traffic is benefiting from the ongoing growth of international tourism to France, combined with the announced increase in the vacation departure rate among the French, which especially benefits coastal destinations.
In the mountains, visitor numbers from the start of the season until the end of July seem to be down, mainly due to unfavorable weather; professionals hope to make up for this deficit with a good month of August, as the heatwave could be a more favorable factor for the mid and high country.
According to David Lisnard, President of CRT Côte d’Azur France: “Among the factors explaining this positive trend are the Côte d’Azur France brand initiative by the CRT azuréen and the joint promotional efforts undertaken by all the professionals in the destination since the 2016 attack.”
