Informations Rapides · 16 November 2023 · n° 290

In Q3 2023, collective tourist attendance slightly decreased over a year (‑0.2%) Tourism occupancy in hotels, campsites and holiday and other short-stay accommodation in metropolitan France - third quarter 2023

In the third quarter of 2023, in France, occupancy in collective accommodations, measured in overnight stays, slightly decreased compared to Q3 2022. The decrease of the attendance in hotels (‑3.4%) and in holiday and other short-stay accommodations (HOSSA, ‑3.0%) was almost counterbalanced by the increase of the attendance in campsites (+2.9%).

In the third quarter of 2023, hotel occupancy was 68.2 million overnight stays, that is a decrease of 2.4 million overnight stays compared to its Q3 2022 level. Resident customers explained all this fall (‑6.4% over one year, that is 2.9 million fewer overnight stays), whereas non-resident’ attendance increased (+1.8%, that is almost 500,000 additional overnight stays).

In Q3 2023, occupancy was below its Q3 2022 level in unclassified hotels (‑13.9%), 1 and 2 star hotels (‑2.8%) and 3 star hotels (‑3.0%). Only upscale hotels (4 and 5 stars) kept almost a stable attendance (+0.1%).

Unclassified hotels suffered from both decreasing resident and non-resident occupancy (respectively -16.8% and -5.5% compared to Q3 2022). On the other hand, non-resident attendance increased in all other hotel categories.

Overnight stays decreased in all areas, mainly as a result of the fall in the number of resident customers. Overseas territories were least affected, with a decrease of the attendance of 1.9%. Non‑residents overnight stays increased on coastline, in ski mountain areas and in provincial urban areas.

Business attendance, less significant in summer period, highly decreased in Q3 2023 compared to last summer. Business nights decreased over a year by 25.7%, that is 6.3 million fewer overnight stays. The decrease was particularly significant in Île-de-France (‑32.2%, that is 2.3 million business fewer nights) and in provincial urban areas (‑25.5%, that is 3.0 million business fewer nights).

In Q3 2023, non-resident customers’ overnight stays increased by 1.8% compared to Q3 2022. British customers were back again (+30.5%). On the contrary, hotels occupancy from other European countries decreased, especially from Germany (-5.3%), Belgium (‑7.6%) and especially the Netherlands (‑14.1%). Hotel occupancy from the United States also decreased (‑7.5%). Lastly, customer attendance from all other countries’ increased significantly (+18.4%).

In Q3 2023, in holiday and other short-stay accommodations, overnight stays decreased by 3.0%, compared to Q3 2022. Attendance was pulled down by the disaffection of resident customers (‑4.6%), which was not totally counterbalanced by the increase of non-residents’ overnight stays (+5.1%). Specially in tourist residences, the increase of non-resident attendance was strong (+6.1%) but was not enough to compensate the disaffection of resident customers (‑7.7%).

Overnight stays decreased in all areas. As for hotels, the decrease of occupancy of resident customers was the mainly reason for the fall.

In Q3 2023, with 105.0 million overnight stays, attendance in French campsites increased by 2.9% compared to the same 2022 quarter, that is 3.0 million additional overnight stays. Campsites benefited from an increase in the number of resident tourists (+1.9%, that is 1.4 million additional overnight stays) and of non-resident tourists (+5.4%, that is 1.6 million additional overnight stays).

With almost 60 million overnight stays, the coastlines remained the main destination for this type of accommodation (57% of total). In these campsites, occupancy remained dynamic and increased by 1.9% compared to the same quarter of 2022. Campsites further from the coastlines benefited even more from the popularity of this type of accommodation with a significant increase of overnight stays (+4.3%).

Occupancy increased in unclassified and in 4 and 5 star campsites (respectively +10.3% and +5.8%). Nevertheless, it decreased in 1 and 2 star campsites, as well as in 3 star campsites (respectively ‑2.1% and ‑2.5%).