Is it true that four out of ten French people do not go on holiday during the year, as Aurélie Trouvé claims?

According to La France Insoumise MP Aurélie Trouvé, 40% of French people do not go on holiday at least once a year. This figure is true.

As August draws to a close, La France Insoumise MP Aurélie Trouvé pointed out that a very significant proportion of French people stay at home during the summer. According to her: “Four out of ten French people have not been on holiday for at least a year.” This figure is true. It is taken from a study by the Observatory of Inequalities released in July 2024. The association relies on figures from Credoc, the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions.

This is an average since the rate of going on holiday depends on income. Among the wealthiest French people, those with an individual standard of living of more than 2,755 euros net per month, 76% go on holiday at least once a year. This falls to only 42% among the most modest, those with an individual standard of living of less than 1,285 euros net per month. It is a question of financial means but also of cultural practices. The wealthiest have been travelling since childhood and therefore feel more comfortable away from home. And then, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to have accommodation available: your second home or that of your friends, for example.

This gap has remained broadly the same for 20 years, according to the Observatory of Inequalities. It even widened a little in the years following the economic crisis of 2008, which caused the vacation departure rate of the poorest to plummet. Thus in 2012, only 31% of them packed their bags at least once a year compared to 78% of the most affluent.

The 2020-2021 health crisis also reduced the holiday departure rate, but this time for everyone: 35% for the poorest, 66% for the wealthiest. Today, we have returned to pre-crisis levels, but the richest are still almost twice as likely as the poorest to go on holiday at least once a year.

Furthermore, these inequalities are even greater when it comes to winter sports holidays, since only 9% of French people go on skiing holidays. This is what we learned from a study published last February by Credoc, the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions. Here too, it is a question of income, since 20% of executives and higher intellectual professions go skiing, compared to 6% of the lowest incomes. Men also go on winter sports holidays more than women: 11% of them do so, compared to 7% of women.