The French still prefer the car to the train and plane to go on vacation, loving its versatility and comfort, despite its cost and the pollution it causes. This is the finding drawn up by a survey carried out by Ifop for the Roole automobile club, Wednesday June 26. According to this study, some 76% of French people who go on vacation this summer will take their car.
Conducted online at the beginning of June, with a sample of 2,000 people representative of the major French population, the study shows that vacationers who leave by car take it first – at 76% – to be able to visit the surrounding area, at their vacation spot.
Carry luggage more easily
“We want freedom above all else, to be autonomous“, explains Françoise Margueritte, in Digne-les-Bains. Aged 66, the retiree plans to travel the Tyrrhenian coast in July, with her husband and his large Jeep Cherokee. The couple travels by car during almost all of their vacations, and only only takes the TGV to go to Paris.
According to the survey, 60% of vacationers – especially older ones – want to be able to carry more luggage more easily, and 38% believe that the car costs them less than the train or plane. Those who do not take the car first mention the fatigue and stress linked to the journey, then the various costs involved.
To save money, the French are firstly planning to avoid gas station sandwiches by preparing picnics, or practicing eco-driving. They also favor the national road, rather than the expensive motorway. In Mandelieu-la-Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes), Catherine Fiévée, 64, came down from Vault-de-Lugny (Yonne) while avoiding tolls.by activism“. But also for “take your time and visitr”, underlines the retiree.
However, according to another survey, carried out by OpinionWay for Point S garages at the end of May, 75% of French people choose their mode of transport for practical reasons, compared to 43% for economic reasons. And only 14% of those questioned justify the choice of their means of transport for ecological reasons, according to this annual survey which is based on a sample of 1,033 people representative of the majority French population.
Half of motorists will travel between 500 and 1,000 kilometers
According to Ifop, half of motorists plan to travel between 500 and 1,000 kilometers for their outward journey this year. And the car budget for the holidays is estimated at around 300 euros on average. Long-distance travel takes its tollnoticeably” in the carbon footprint of the French, according to a study by the Shift Project think tank published in 2022. They rely 90% on highly carbon-intensive modes of transport, such as the car or the plane.
“We observe a very paradoxical phenomenoncomments Frédéric Micheau, deputy general director of OpinionWay,ith a society shared between ecological concerns and the reality of behavior which clashes with physical realities, particularly in the choice of modes of travel.“By car, Françoise will take 12.5 hours to reach Naples, from Digne. By train, the journey takes three hours longer, in the best case scenario. And requires at least four connections.
