Paris (AFP)

"Finally head out of the water!". Relief was keen on Thursday in the tourism sector paralyzed by the health crisis since mid-March: as campsites or leisure parks, cafes, bars and restaurants will reopen next Tuesday. But only their terraces in Paris.

The government has decided "to reopen cafes, restaurants, bars (...) with specific constraints in the areas" classified "orange", Ile-de-France, Guyana and Mayotte, where only the terraces of these establishments reopen and may expand with the approval of mayors, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on Thursday.

Sector "capital for our economy, for employment" and "part of our art of living", which represents more than 7% of the GDP and two million jobs, tourism will restart but with "particular vigilance" until 'to June 21 in the orange zones, he said after a Defense Council chaired by Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in the morning.

"I'm so happy to be able to work again at last!" Yannick Alleno, three-star chef at the Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris, told AFP. "It was very hard, life has to start again."

"80 days of closure are ending soon: it's good for the morale of professionals and that of the French in general", reacted to AFP Didier Chenet at the head of GNI (independent from the hotel and restoration).

"The sector is finally coming out of the water!" Added Roland Héguy, president of Umih, the main union in the sector of hotels, cafes, bars, restaurants and nightclubs. "This almost general reopening on June 2 will make it possible to restart an economic activity and try to limit the + economic break + and the + social break +".

However, he said he was worried about "the night world" because the nightclubs will remain closed until June 21.

This will be "conditional" on compliance with health rules validated with them: tables of ten guests maximum, at least one meter "between the tables of each group", "organized traffic" and more sensitive: "standing consumption" prohibited in bars. "Incompatible with the spirit of bistros", this ban on consumption at the counter will "harm them considerably," said Chenet.

- "Fortnight" compulsory in Overseas -

The mask will be mandatory for staff and customers when they move to cafes, bars and restaurants.

For their part, the 8,000 or so campsites that recorded 129 million overnight stays last year, 69% of which were French customers, will also be able to reopen on June 2 except in the "orange" zones - where they will reopen on June 22. The same will apply to tourist accommodation and holiday villages.

"The reopening of the intra-European borders on June 15 is second good news because it will allow campsites to welcome their European customers this summer", welcomed the National Federation of Outdoor Hotels (FNHPA).

As of June 2, beaches, lakes, bodies of water and leisure parks will also reopen throughout the territory with "a maximum tonnage of 5,000 people" for "activities allowing physical distance" and " strict rules". For leisure parks in the "orange" zone, however, it will be necessary to wait until June 22, the date on which the summer camps will also restart.

On the other hand, "very strict movement control" measures towards the Overseas Territories are maintained with a "fortnight" on arrival, in Mayotte and in Guyana, where the Covid-19 "travels a little more than elsewhere", but also in Polynesia and New Caledonia whose populations are "extremely attached" to this protection, according to the Prime Minister.

Disappointed by a "fortnight" he considers "totally incompatible with holidays", Jean-Pierre Mas, president of Entreprises du voyage, estimated on RTL that summer 2020 will represent "30, 40 or 50%" at best, of a normal season.

Finally, museums and monuments will reopen all over the territory on June 2, like performance halls and theaters in "green zones", with the wearing of compulsory masks.

All of these measures will be reassessed "before June 22".

© 2020 AFP