Going on vacation during the Olympics: “Customers are starting to give up in the face of high prices”

2024-03-24 01:00:00

While high inflation has undermined household finances for two years, Didier Arino, managing director of Protourisme, a specialized consultancy firm, estimates that the French budget devoted to vacations will be down 7% this year.

Prices for vacation rentals skyrocket, including during the Olympic Games period. How do you explain it?

DIDIER ARINO. Professionals in the sector pass on the increase in their costs more than proportionately to vacationers. This is not a new phenomenon, we have been observing it since the end of the health crisis. Hotels, and especially campsites, have absorbed a significant increase in their costs, whether in wages, energy or raw materials. But they also took advantage of the French people’s desire for vacation, frustrated by successive confinements, who were ready to leave whatever the cost. Today, professionals are doing it again. For this summer, we estimate increases at 7%, on average.

Didier Arino, general director of Protourisme, estimates that the French budget devoted to vacations will be down by 7% this year. DR

Are they taking advantage of the tourist attraction of the Olympics to inflate prices?

Outside of Île-de-France and areas where Olympic events take place, I don’t believe so. First of all, the Olympic Games clientele seems overestimated to me. “She is not the one who will spend her vacations in campsites and hotels located on the coast. » We will not see rich American or Japanese tourists wandering around France during the two weeks of competition. There will be a foreign clientele, of course, but in the same proportions as in previous years.

In a context of purchasing power crisis, can these increases prevent families from leaving?

Yes, customers are starting to give up in the face of high prices. Mobile homes, for example, are becoming unaffordable. A night now sells for 300 euros, and can reach 600 euros in so-called premium campsites. However, for the first time since 2019, the French budget devoted to vacations will drop by 7%, according to our forecasts. In the statistics we already see a slowdown. Last year, at the same time, there were 12% more reservations. The number of overnight stays also decreased by 3%. Now, families are turning to furnished Airbnb-style rentals. A shift takes place. Professionals in the sector must be careful not to lose people.