Insee Première · November 2021 · n° 1880

Summer 2021: tourist attendance recover thanks to residents

From May to August 2021, collective tourist accommodations recorded 197.0 million overnight stays in France, 19% fewer than in the same period in 2019, before the health crisis. Attendance in May and June 2021, measured in tourists nights spent, is much lower than in May and June 2019, while attendance in July and August is close to its 2019 level.

Attendance was driven by residents customers who, as in the summer of 2020, preferred to stay away from major urban centers and focused on establishments located on the coast or in the mountain.

The return of non-resident customers remains timid, particularly in hotels and especially in Île-de-France, where non-resident visitation is at 21% of its summer 2019 level.

The combined effects of the health crisis and the Brexit have led to a very sharp decline in tourists from the United Kingdom, the leading foreign customers during the 2010 decade. Customers attendance from border countries have returned to 80% of their pre-crisis levels, some of them completely (Belgium, Switzerland) and others partially (Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands).