Summer tourism figures up

Despite poor weather for part of the season, hotels and holiday camps have seen an increase of 3.1% occupancy this summer, with the luxury sector performing particularly well.

According to Didier Arino of Protourisme, the summer season has been patchy with a strong performance from April to 10th July, when the weather was exceptionally good, followed by a slowdown for a month when the weather was unseasonably poor. More recently, he says, there has been a slight increase as the weather improved.

There have been fewer regional disparities noted this year, but there have been wide variations in occupancy depending on the type of accommodation.

At the top-end of the sector, four and five star hotels saw a 20% increase in July. This figure was 5% for camping sites in the same category and 10% for mobile homes and chalets, according to Tourism Minister Frédéric Lefebvre.

The length of stay also increased by 3.8% in July and spending by 8.1%, mainly due to the bad weather forcing people indoors.

In other good news, France continues to be a top destination for foreigners, with a 15% increase in July of visitors from Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Photo: Brian Jackson - Fotolia.com