The year was not very rich in spring bridges, the 1is and May 8 coinciding with a Sunday. This Ascension tourist break therefore carried the hopes of professionals and many were not disappointed. “Compared to the same period in 2019, attendance is higher by around 25%”, says Jacques Quéguiner who runs a restaurant on the old port of Le Conquêt (Finistère).
The restaurateur also mentions accommodation “well filled” and tourists not too fussy about spending. “Many do not even look at the prices on the menu, as if they had decided to treat themselves for a first long weekend”, continues the restorer.
If he expected good attendance, Jacques Quéguiner said he was however surprised by the presence of many foreigners. “We are at the end of the world here, he smiled, and I didn’t expect to see Germans, English or even Americans so soon. »
The king campsites of this bridge
Perhaps a sign of this international presence, this message on the social networks of Eurostar, the company that operates trains between London and Paris via the Channel Tunnel: “Our trains to Paris Gare du Nord are full today”, communicated Eurostar France Thursday May 26, asking people to go to the station only if they already had a ticket to travel.
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This Ascension Bridge should in any case put some balm in the hearts of tourism professionals. “According to the latest feedback we have, attendance rates are exceptional and exceed the best reference years,” says Christian Mourisard, Deputy Chairman of ADN Tourisme, which brings together regional and departmental tourism committees, as well as tourist offices in France.
According to the latter, campsites are somewhat the locomotives of these records, but lodges and bed and breakfasts are also filling up, both on the coasts and in the countryside. From the department of Lot-et-Garonne to the Channel via Brittany, it’s time for great relaxation. “We see that people have the will to consume and take advantage of the good weather after having been strongly marked by the ordeals of confinement”, says Hervé Bécam, vice-president of the Union of trades and hotel industries (Umih) and himself owner of a hotel north of Brest.
Even in Paris
This desire to escape has been translated concretely in stations and on the roads since more than 10 million French people have left. The SNCF notably expects more than 1.6 million passengers on the main lines until Sunday and many trains were already full on Wednesday. It is even the adjective repeated by the officials of the railway company. Our trains are “full, full, full!” » insisted Alain Krakovitch, the person in charge of the activity of the TGV and Intercités (Corail trains). For his part, Smart Bison waves his flags. After a red Thursday on the roads, Sunday promises to be a black day…
This frenzy does not spare the metropolises. If the Paris metros were empty of workers on Thursday, May 26, the trains were nonetheless frequented by many people cluttered with suitcases. Some went to the stations to leave, others arrived to walk the streets of the capital. French tourists, but also many foreigners. The café terraces resonate again like a tower of Babel.