Two-thirds of places still to be sold for the summer holidays, due to the Olympics and prices?

Although the head of TGV-Intercités does mention a “drop in demand in recent days”, the operator is not worried about the filling of its trains for this summer.

Are the TGVs for this summer filling up less quickly than expected? At the Travel Companies congress in Val d’Isère on Friday June 28, Alain Krakovitch, head of TGV-Intercités, indicated that “two thirds of the summer seats are still for sale”.

This volume of available places may raise questions as the major departures begin this Saturday, July 6. Especially since when ticket sales opened last March, SNCF Connect says it observed twice as many reservations as in a normal year with 1.5 million tickets sold.

At the end of June, the railway company even reported 6.5 million tickets sold (TGV and Intercités), i.e. 10% more than in 2023 at the same date.

“We had a lot of advance sales for the Olympics, when reservations opened,” confirms the manager, who says he has noticed “a decline in recent days. I think there is anxiety about coming to Paris and France.”

“Anxiety about coming to Paris and France”

So, apart from those who have planned ahead as much as possible to secure their travel during the Olympic Games, can we talk about a wait-and-see attitude for the others?

According to our information, the operator is not overly worried, because the volume of places available to date is rather normal, we are assured.

For Julien Joly, Transport expert for Wavestone, “the trains for the main departures are full but there must be some space left on the weekday trains”. The specialist nevertheless confirms that the avoidance due to the Olympic Games played a role.

“We are not worried. We have to tell ourselves that this slowdown that we have in June and July will not be the same in August,” adds Alain Krakovitch.

In addition to the negative effect of the Olympic Games, which also seems to affect Air France (which mentions a “significant avoidance behavior” of Paris by international customers), the price effect can also explain this “decline” in demand mentioned.

The rates in question

Let us recall that the average prices of TGV Inoui have increased by 2.6% this year after 5% in 2023 (a figure contested by the regulator which speaks of a 7% increase).

A point pinned by some customers on X (ex-Twitter).

To counter these criticisms of prices, the SNCF put 500,000 TGV Inoui tickets on sale at the end of June “from 29 euros” through a flash sale.

Other possible obstacles that could explain a slower filling rate are “the wait-and-see attitude due to uncertain weather or the political context. Or the consequence of the increase in tourist accommodation prices which weighs on purchasing power”, estimates Julien Joly.

Last year, the SNCF sold 24 million long-distance tickets for July-August, up 4% year-on-year, a historic record, with TGVs 80% full.

For this year, to meet demand, it plans to offer 400,000 additional places (mainly on the Atlantic coast) with the same number of TGVs but by optimizing traffic, counting on full trains on days of major departures.