French Tourists Flock to Mediterranean Destinations to Avoid Olympic Crowds

The most popular tourist destinations for the French during this summer period marked by the influx of tourists to the Paris Olympics are Greece, Spain, Italy and Morocco... There are also the emerging tourist destinations that offer the certainty of escaping the heat wave - Sweden, Norway, Ireland, etc. "The French, particularly Parisians, are more numerous in our hotels abroad than last year," notes Patrick Mendes, Accor group’s general manager for Europe & North Africa, quoted by Le Figaro. Didier Arino, director of the Protourisme cabinet, confirms the massive departures. "This summer, 500,000 more French people than last year have gone abroad".

This year, Spain, Great Britain and Germany are booming. "15% of our French clients traveling abroad are in Spain and 16% in Great Britain (in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow...)", specifies the hotel manager, adding that Germany is at 11%, in strong progression thanks in particular to the Euro 2024 football and Morocco is also very popular with Accor (+20% bookings compared to summer 2023).

After a bad month of July, French travel agencies are regaining color. "Since the beginning of August, we are finding better booking levels than in 2023," notes René-Marc Chikli, president of Seto, the French tour operators’ union. The sunny destinations of Southern Europe such as Greece (+19%), Italy (+9%) and the Canary Islands (+6%) are in the lead. Countries like Norway (+11%), Croatia (+10%) and Slovenia have also boomed. In the Maghreb, the French are voting for Morocco and Tunisia (+1%). Further afield, the French, especially Parisians (50% of Seto’s clients across all destinations), have set their sights on Mauritius (+13%).

This rush of French tourists to these sunny destinations is undermining French tourism professionals. "Restaurateurs, hoteliers, activity organizers and amusement park operators are disconcerted. The season got off to a slow start after the legislative elections. Even today, the French clientele is less present than last year," notes the newspaper. Fortunately, this situation will not last. "The situation has improved since last weekend, after a wave of major departures, but everywhere there is still room," assures the author of the article.