Vacationers on the Corsican beach of Mare e Sol in Pietrosella, August 12, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
In Corsica, more tourists came than in 2019, the last pre-Covid season, but inflation weighs and modifies consumption patterns, with less spending in restaurants and a preference for gites or rental apartments.
“The tourists are there (..) but they make significant trade-offs in their consumption of stays. They are a little more careful about their catering budget”, explains to AFP, Nathalie Cau, president of the tourist office of ‘Ajaccio.
Italian tourists on the Corsican beach of Mare e Sol in Pietrosella, August 12, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
“There are fewer people” at the table, believes Caroline Gauthier, a 40-year-old tourist from Loire-Atlantique used to Corsica and who “does a lot of restaurants” with her family during the holidays.
She goes out with her two daughters and her husband from the Naporama museum in Ajaccio, which traces the highlights of Napoleon’s life in customized Playmobil. This cultural space, on the other hand, benefits from excellent attendance: “We were not empty in July”, welcomes Frédéric Pierrot, creator of this unusual place.
Tourists have a picnic on the Corsican beach of Mare e Sol in Pietrosella, August 12, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
Because paradoxically, if hotel and catering professionals warned of “the drop in attendance at establishments”, from June, the number of tourists who arrived on the Mediterranean island in July by boat or plane, nearly 1.5 million, is up 3.8% from July 2019, the last pre-Covid season that served as the benchmark year, according to the chamber of commerce.
The figure is certainly down compared to 2022 (-4.3%), a year that all professionals nevertheless considered “exceptional”.
“Inflation weighs on spending,” explained this week the Corsica Tourism Agency (ATC) in its economic note for July. Visitors are thus tempted by house or apartment rentals, in particular via platforms such as AirBnB or Booking, which allows them to cook at home, to the detriment of hotels, note the professionals, pointing the finger at this sector of the ” paratourism”.
A street in Ajaccio, August 12, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
“Gîtes de France and furnished tourist accommodation have the highest reservation rates: 82% and 74% respectively. They are followed by tourist residences and holiday villages (72%). Increasingly popular types of accommodation by tourists”, notes the Tourism Agency.
In Ajaccio, “many Airbnbs were requested” in July and “many hotels had abnormally high availability compared to previous years”, confirms Nathalie Cau.
Tourism players also point to “generalized inflation” or “the increase in the cost of transport” which force arbitration. For four years, the month of September has been better than that of July” in Ajaccio, notes Ms. Cau
Some nautical activities are also impacted. “The Optimist sailboat courses which were almost full last year are only half full this year”, notes Christophe Demoulin, base manager of the Nautical Society.
– “Schizophrenia” –
In Corsica, the tourism sector is crucial, it represents 39% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to INSEE.
The political climate may also have played a role.
A pedestrian street in Ajaccio, August 12, 2023 (AFP / Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
By claiming 16 attacks on August 1, the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC, separatist) thus evoked a tourist season “unbearable, unbreathable, sometimes publicly denounced by + ours +, but discreetly encouraged by the same “.
The Journal de la Corse regrets the proliferation of “testimonies” reporting insults against the French. “It’s not by treating them + French shit +” that Corsica will manage to make tourists want to come back, says the oldest newspaper on the island, founded in 1817.
Especially since 66% of the tourist clientele in Corsica comes from the mainland, according to the economic report.
The daily “Corse-Matin” also published a report on the discomfort of tourists in front of anti-French tags.
In May, the autonomist president of the Assembly of Corsica, Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, had pointed out “the schizophrenia” of certain Corsicans: “We cannot, at the same time, want tourism, rent furnished accommodation, be critical of vis-à-vis tourists and not support them for a month and a half”.
© 2023 AFP
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