Informations Rapides · 10 August 2022 · n° 209

In Q2 2022, collective tourist attendance was 3.0% lower than 2019’s Tourism occupancy in hotels, campsites and holiday and other short-stay accommodation in metropolitan France - second quarter 2022

In the second quarter of 2022, occupancy in collective accommodation -except for campsites, measured in overnight stays, was getting close from Q2 2019’s level, yet remaining 3.0% below. Attendance slightly declines in both hotels and holiday and other shortstay accommodation (HOSSA).

In the second quarter of 2022, hotel occupancy was 3.3% lower than its pre-sanitary crisis level. For nearly a year, resident customers have been supporting hotel attendance. Hotel occupancy by residents thus exceeded its pre-crisis level (+2.5%, being more than 900,000 additional overnight stays). However, this was not enough to retain non-resident customers’ disaffection (–13.3%, a 2.9 million drop in overnight stays compared to 2019).

The decline in attendance concerned entry-level hotels. In 1 and 2 stars hotels, along with unclassified hotels, the decline in resident overnight stays was combined with a significant drop in overnight stays by non-resident customers (–24.2% in 1 and 2 stars hotels). Upscale 4 and 5 stars hotels benefited from a sharp increase in resident occupancy (+18.0%), which more than offset the decline in non-resident customers. In 3 stars hotels, the come back of France residing customers retained the decrease in non-resident attendance.

In the second quarter of 2022, urban areas still concentrated hotel occupancy’s decline, particularly in Île-de-France. Over this quarter, hotel overnights in France fell by nearly 2 million compared to the same quarter of 2019, including 900,000 for Île-de-France alone. The decrease in non-resident customers was less significant there (–7.8%), but was aggravated by a slight drop in domestic overnight stays. In provincial urban areas, the slight increase in residents’s overnight stays did not offset the sharp drop in overnight stays by non-residents (–22.9%).

On coastlines, in ski mountains areas and overseas departments, hotel attendance has increased. The rise in resident overnight stays in these territories offset the decline in non-resident customers ‘s occupancy.

Business attendance was down compared to the second quarter of 2019, with a number of overnight stays decreasing by 5.4%. However, it still represents almost half of hotel occupancy. The decline in business overnight stays was particularly significant in Île-de-France (–13.2%). Being 1.2 million overnights lesser than in 2019, this alone explains the sharp decline in hotel occupancy in the region. To a lesser extent, business overnight stays also declined in urban areas outside Île-de-France (–1.1%).

In the second quarter of 2022, in metropolitan France, non-resident tourists were less numerous in french hotels than in the same quarter before crisis. However, attendance by European tourists almost regained its pre-crisis level, particularly attendance from Germany (–4.3%) or Belgium (–3.4%). The number of Dutch overnight stays was even a quarter higher than its 2019 level. But occupancy from the United Kingdom remained significantly lower than in the second quarter of 2019 (–9.6%). The number of overnight stays by non-European tourists remains far below its pre-crisis level (–30.3% compared to the second quarter of 2019). In particular, overnight stays by American tourists are 12% lower than in the second quarter of 2019, when overnight stays from other non-European countries fall by nearly a half.

In holidays and other collective tourist accommodation, occupancy slightly declined compared to the second quarter of 2019 (–2.1%). Domestic customer's come back, particularly in tourist residences (+3.1%), was not enough to restore pre-crisis attendance levels, still suffering from significant disaffection of non-resident customers (–16.1%). Tourist residences thus lost a fifth of overnight stays by non-residents compared to the same period in 2019.

On coastline areas, attendance almost regained its pre-crisis level (–0.6%) thanks to resident customers. In ski mountain areas (+0.4%), non-resident customers even made 2022’s attendance higher. On the other hand, these customers are still missing in urban areas, particularly in Île-de-France (–23.1% compared to the second quarter of 2019). As a result, overnight stays in HOSSA in this region fell by 3.8%.