Driven by the Olympic and Paralympic Games, tourism in France showed “good resistance” in 2024, according to the Alliance France Tourisme. It is, according to the organization chaired by Dominique Marcel, a “year of standardization”. With contrasting results depending on regions and market segments, against a backdrop of increased competition from southern European countries.
Ile-de-France outside Paris among the big winners
At a press conference this morning, the Alliance provided a fairly comprehensive overview of the past year in figures, with PDF support. Over the first 11 months of last year, traffic recorded by Aéroports de Paris increased by 3.6%. Over the whole of 2024, hotel turnover increased by 1.5%. That of residences and holiday villages, 1.8%.
But this average hides disparities. In Paris, the hotel and tourist residence sector shows stable activity, with only moderate price growth (+1.8%).
Ile-de-France outside Paris emerges as the big winner of the year (+4.8% turnover) while the province progresses slightly (+1.7%). Outside of the Ile-de-France region, the PACA/Nice region, Hauts-de-France and in particular Lille (+4.6%) as well as the Grand Est (+3.5%) performed well. Overall, the entire Atlantic coast held up less well.
Normandy, for its part, benefited from the fallout from the 80e anniversary of the landing.
“We must capitalize as best as possible on the Olympic Games”
The fact remains that “southern Europe has largely surpassed us” in terms of the evolution of RevPar, according to the Alliance France Tourisme.
“For a year of the Olympic Games, the 2024 results are not so exceptional,” estimates Vanguelis Panayotis, CEO of MKG Consulting. “We must not rest on our laurels or boast,” insists Dominique Marcel. “We must capitalize as much as possible on the Olympic and Paralympic Games which were a tremendous success. We have plenty of challenges to face. We must have a real tourism strategy. And we must invest, invest and invest”, “relying on public authorities”.
Moreover, Dominique Marcel is meeting this afternoon with Minister for Tourism Nathalie Delattre, to share his vision.
Travel agency: fewer long-haul flights in 2024
“We must not disappoint, the quality of the offer is extremely important. There is a need for renovation, particularly in terms of the quality of infrastructure, reception and energy performance,” he continues. “The good news” is that the sector and its modernization needs are synonymous with “jobs”, adds Vanguelis Panayotis.
In 2025, the alliance expects a 2.7% increase in RevPar, with a small increase in occupancy in hotels and tourist residences.
The organization, which brings together large tourism companies, also shared the activity figures of travel agencies from Orchestra. In 2024, the volume of business corresponding to reservations for tourist stays in agencies increased by 3.4%, despite stagnation in the number of files (-0.3%)thanks in particular to an average basket of 1795 euros (+3.7%). Distributors sold fewer long-haul stays (-7.3% in number of travelers), more the destination France (+2.9%) and medium-haul (+2.2%). The fault, undoubtedly, of budgetary arbitrations.
Also read: Package travel: 2024 review and first trends for 2025
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