“Honestly, it’s crazy.” Francis Cauwel is over the moon. The director of the “La Mignardière” campsite, in Ballan-Miré, did not expect to experience such an intense summer of 2022. “In 29 years in the business, I’ve never seen this. My best season so far was 2017. We’re way above it.” It is close to 95% occupancy rate since July against 75% usual.
“It’s huge. On my 45 permanent pitches, I didn’t have too many fears. Even last year, it worked well, but on my 120 pure camping pitches, of the tent or caravan type, it didn’t I didn’t stop. I spent a lot of time on the phone telling people we were full.” continues Francis Cauwel.
We expected a recovery, after two years of Covid-19, but not at this level
In his four-star campsite, things had started well in April. “Easter got the season off to a good start and there were no real lows. Usually, July is a lot less busy than August. This year, it was less the case. It’s unexpected. We’re expected a recovery, after two years of Covid-19, but not at this level. I have people who have been surprised. For the weekend of August 15, they called me on Friday in being convinced that there would be room, because they have been used in recent years to there being. This year, the last minute, it was impossible.
What largely explains this record year is the mass return of foreigners. “We had a lot of Dutch, English, Belgians and Germans”explains Régis Delussac, the president of the Regional Federation of outdoor hotels and boss of the largest campsite in Indre-et-Loire “Le parc de Fierbois” in Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois. “In fact, our usual clientele, fond of the Loire castles and nature, has returned in large numbers.”
He also observes that the phenomenon of local tourism, observed for three or four years, has increased. “Camping, financially, remains affordable. And in the current context, with high inflation, that matters a lot. People want to keep purchasing power. So we had a lot of people who came from the Centre-Val de Loire.”
Finally, the exceptional weather obviously had an impact. The weather was nice almost all the time, unlike last year. “For me, the reference year was 2019. And clearly, we erased the bad memory of 2020 and 2021”, concludes Régis Delussac.