In an interview with the "Journal du Dimanche", Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism, takes stock of tourism at the start of summer. If the departures on vacation in France make it possible to "save the essential", the lack of foreign customers is felt.

Part of the international clientele "has disappeared". These are the words of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism. In the columns of the Journal du Dimanche , he estimates between 30 and 40 billion euros "the immediate impact" of the coronavirus health crisis on the French tourism sector.

"An encouraging month of July" 

"In normal times, tourism generates 180 billion euros in revenue, 60 billion of which comes from international tourism. The immediate impact of the epidemic is at least 30 to 40 billion euros," said the secretary of 'State in Tourism. "Many operators tell us that their turnover will fall by 20 to 25% at the end of the year," he adds.

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Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne nevertheless observes that "the French are participating massively in the revival of the tourism sector by favoring France" and underlines that 7 out of 10 of those who have gone on vacation have chosen France. "Blue, white, red summer is here," he says. What "save the essential", according to him. The Secretary of State also welcomes "an encouraging month of July" and "hopes that the month of August will be excellent" and the off-season "in the colors of Indian summer". the Secretary of State wants to be cautious because "this recovery is fragile" and "as soon as a cluster appears, the effect is immediate on the cancellations of stays and on the reservations".

Disappearance of international customers

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne judges "encouraging (...) that the intentions of departing for France of Belgian, German, Italian and Spanish customers for September are higher than for July and August", which would allow "to prolong the summer "and" to consolidate the recovery of the sector ". 

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This return of foreign customers will limit the damage, he explains, but not offset the effect of the crisis. "Let us be clear: in normal times, France welcomes 17 million foreign tourists every summer when 9 million French go abroad" and "part of this international clientele has disappeared".