Coronavirus and tourism: hotels occupancy in France fell by 73% in June 2020 compared to June 2019, according to an INSEE survey
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) points out that upscale hotels have mostly suffered. They have lost 83% of their clients compared to last year.
Hotel occupancy in France fell by 73% in June 2020 compared to June 2019, according to an INSEE survey published on Monday, August 31st. The hotels recorded 5.8 million overnight stays in June 2020. It is the Île-de-France region (Paris region) which is mainly suffering. The number of overnight stays there fell by 88% in June 2020 compared to June 2019, compared to a drop of 67% in the provinces.
The lack of non-resident customers in the second quarter of 2020 particularly affected the Paris region. Usually, from April to October, Île-de-France receives half of the tourists who come to France. The professional customers have been somewhat limited in a region that usually hosts trade fairs, seminars and congresses.
The year 2020 was, however, starting well
Only half of the rooms in Île-de-France were open in June 2020 (51%). The rate of opening in the French coastal regions reached 82% over the same period. Over the whole of the territory, 78% of the accommodation offer was available. The hotels that opened often reduced the number of rooms offered to customers, expecting a drop in demand compared to previous years. Despite the reduced number of rooms offered, they were not much busy. Hotel occupancy rates are 35% in June 2020, less than half of those in June 2019. A third of the hotels opened did not reach 20% occupancy rate in June 2020.
According to the INSEE survey, the year 2020 had got off to a good start, with increases in hotel occupancy of 5% and 6% in January and February compared to the same period in 2019. But the lockdown has come to a halt. In April and May, few hotels remained open. In April 2020, opening rates varied from 18% in Île-de-France to 28% in urban areas in the provinces.
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The recovery benefits primarily 1- and 2-star hotels
With the closure of the borders and the quarantine of the population, occupancy has been limited to a few categories of people: confined persons, those placed in hotels for social reasons, but also health care staff or other professionals needing accommodation to carry out their activity, such as lorry drivers or law enforcement officers. With these groups, the number of guests in April and May 2020 represented 4 and 8% of the total in April and May 2019.
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies emphasises that it is the top-of-the-range hotels that have mainly suffered. They lost 83% of their customers in June 2020 compared to June 2019. 4-star and 5-star hotels accounted for 27% of all hotel nights in June 2019, compared with only 17% in June 2020. With the end of the lockdown, the weak upturn in activity initially benefited the entry-level hotels. Occupancy of 1-star and 2-star hotels in June 2020 returned to a third of its June 2019 level.