Despite a semester of curfew and then confinement, the French have never been so numerous to go on vacation as in 2021. The departure rate stood at 62% for people aged 15 and over. more, i.e. eight points more than in 2020 and two points more than in 2019, a record year, according to the Opodo-Guy Raffour Interactif barometer.
The firm Guy Raffour thus designates stays of four nights or more for the purpose of leisure and relaxation, regardless of the accommodation. This spectacular return to normal is largely due to non-commercial stays, with family, friends or in a second home: 42% of French people have chosen this option, i.e. 12 points more than in 2020. This is explained by the economic aspect, the ease of organization, the flexibility in the event of the unexpected and the widely mentioned need to find one’s cocoon with family or friends. Second homes have never been used so much, while real estate agents have observed a wave of purchases.
In addition to these long stays, there are short commercial stays – one to three nights in paid accommodation – which concerned 39% of French people. Cheaper and more conducive to last-minute decisions, these long weekends are on the rise. Less than one in three people organized them in the early 2010s.
Willingness to catch up
Taken together, this makes up an overall departure rate of French people on leisure stays of 67%. Seven points better than in 2020, and one point less than in 2019. In the absence of official figures since 2004, this rate has been measured for twenty years by the firm Guy Raffour thanks to a telephone survey carried out in January among 1,000 French aged 15 and over.
More than one in two French people say they are “ready to sacrifice other expenses” to go on vacation
The result reflects, according to Mr. Raffour, a desire to catch up after the confinements of 2020, the success of the vaccination program and the socio-economic shock absorber put in place by the government. In its previous barometer, they were 57% to express a “vital need to leave”, an unprecedented figure, expressed again in 2022. More than one in two French people say they are “ready to sacrifice other expenses” to go on vacation, while the departure rate is strongly correlated to the level of income. After the economic crisis of 2008, it had also known a shortness of breath until the middle of the decade 2010.
The figures corroborate the trends observed in 2021 by players in the sector, with significant weekend departures at the time of deconfinement, mainly in autonomous places (secondary residences or rental of gîtes or apartments), then, after the lifting of restrictions, good performance for hotels and leisure sites almost everywhere in France, despite the absence of tourists from far away.
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