Despite the figures revealed by several tourism professionals, the government assures us: urban violence does not jeopardize the summer season.
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“There is no wave of cancellations of stays in France“, launches Olivia Grégoire on Thursday July 6, before adding “on the overall picture, we don’t have -30% reservations in France“, Toafter the urban violence sparked by the death of Nahel on June 27. The statement resembles a response sent to some industry professionals.
The boss of the Paris tourist office had mentioned thousands of cancellations, between 20 and 25% of foreign customers who will not come to the capital. The union of hotel and restaurant owners has announced 30% cancellations in Marseille, the bosses of hotel chains note a 2 to 5% drop… data calculated on the (very high) objectives for the first days of July.
>>> Death of Nahel: follow the latest information
The government is therefore trying to reassure tourists from all over the world in the face of the images of riots which have circulated in a loop in all countries. “We had a downward tremor between -0.5 and -2% on the day of July 2continues Olivia Grégoire, “from July 3, this tremor was no longer observed and reservations started up again. It is not the whole of France which has been affected in the same waynot”.
Demining operation in the foreign media
Requests for overnight stays have indeed started to rise again, with + 1% of reservations between July 2 and 3. This week, occupancy rates in Paris and the inner suburbs are higher than in 2022 and almost identical to 2019, before the Covid-19 epidemic.
The government is sparing no effort to support these figures abroad, as evidenced by the interviews given by Bruno Le Maire to CNN for the United States and The Telegraph in the United Kingdom, or that of Olivia Grégoire at Al Jazeera for the Middle East. And for good reason, some foreign tourists are very sensitive to security issues, such as Japanese, South American or American customers. American tourists are currently compensating for the absence of Chinese and Russian visitors.
On the other hand, it is impossible to know what the long-term consequences of the images of riots broadcast around the world will be, while tourism professionals thought they would exceed this year the 58 billion euros in revenue garnered last year.