Two years after the first confinement, the trend is indeed towards the resumption of tourism in Ile-de-France. The activity of the Home Exchange platform, which makes it possible to exchange one’s accommodation for another, is an illustration of this. For these spring holidays, 14,000 overnight stays are planned in the region. Since the beginning of the year, the increase is 50% compared to the pre-pandemicin 2019.”We are very happy, comments the co-founder of the platform, Charles-Edouard Girard, it proves that people really want to travel. They have learned to live with the Covid and they want to move on“.
An explosion of requests
This increase in demand, Elisabeth felt it too. She lives in a pretty duplex near Place de la République in Paris and has been exchanging accommodation for about fifteen years. “Between September and December 2021, I received 150 offers, I had never seen that! Even if it’s true that Paris has always been an attractive destination. Before the pandemic, I received an average of fifteen a month. Obviously during, there was almost no demand, no one could move“, she explains.
For her part, she went on vacation 27 times thanks to this system, in France, Europe or further afield (to the Bahamas). Registration on the site costs 149 euros per monththere are no other accommodation costs, but for this Parisian, mother of two children, the interest is not only financial: “We think it’s really a great way to travel. On arrival, you will find real houses, more comfortable for a family, with games for children, an equipped kitchen“. The exchange of accommodation also helps to forge links. Elisabeth remembers that at the time of the November 2015 attacks, many people who stayed with her had sent her messages of support.