Informations Rapides · 16 May 2023 · n° 123

In Q1 2023, collective tourist attendance rose by 12.6% year on year Tourism occupancy in hotels, campsites and holiday and other short-stay accommodation in metropolitan France - first quarter 2023

In France, in the first quarter of 2023, occupancy in collective accommodation except for campsites, measured in overnight stays, was 12.6% higher than its Q1 2022 level. Attendance exceeded mainly in hotels (+19.2%) whereas in Holiday and Other Short-Stay Accommodations (HOSSA) the increase was lower (+1.6%).

In the first quarter of 2023, hotel occupancy rose by 19.2% (that is +6.9 million overnight stays) compared to that of Q1 2022, which was still impacted by the sanitary crisis. While resident customers' occupancy increased by 7.7% (nearly 2.1 million additional overnight stays), non-resident customers' occupancy mostly contributed to the rise in hotels occupancy (+55.8%, nearly 4.8 million additional overnight stays).

Upscale hotels mostly benefited from the improvement in hotel occupancy. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the number of overnight stays increased by 31.4%. Only unclassified hotels attendance remained below its Q1 2022 level (-2.7%). These hotels suffered from the disaffection of resident customers.

Hotel occupancy was 37.4% higher in Île-de-France compared to the first quarter of 2022, representing 4 million additional overnight stays. In provincial urban area it rose by 15.1% (+1.9 million overnight stays).

In coastline hotels (+6.1%) and ski mountain hotels (+3.4%), the increase was much lower. The increase of non-resident overnight stays was partially compensated by the decrease of resident occupancy.

Business attendance increased sharply in Q1 2023 (+17.3%, representing 3.1 million additional overnight stays) compared to the same period of the last year, which was highly impacted by the sanitary crisis. Despite this rise, business attendance share kept decreasing slowly, going from 48.8% in Q1 2022 to 48.0% in Q1 2023.

On the rise every quarter for one year, non-resident customers' occupancy in hotels in France exceeded in Q1 2023 its Q1 2022 level (+55.8%), the last quarter impacted by the sanitary crisis. On the other hand, attendance by resident customers increased more gently (+7.7%) over the period.

Attendance from European countries strongly contributed to this rise. In particular, British customers, whose attendance had been in decline since the health crisis, came back to France hotels. Customers from Germany and the Netherlands were more numerous than in Q1 2022, contributing to the hotel attendance’s dynamism.

Attendance by non-European customers, especially from United-States, also increased after a long disaffection period.

In holiday and other short-stay accommodations (HOSSA) of metropolitan France, the increase was confirmed in Q1 2023 (+1.6% over a year), despite the slightly decrease in tourist residences (-0.8%).

As in hotels, attendance in HOSSA increased especially in urban areas (+28.5% in Île-de-France and +1.8% in provincial urban area). Representing more than one night out of two in the HOSSA overnight stays, the little decrease in ski mountain attendance (-0.7%) penalised the dynamism of this type of accommodation.