To be a good patriot this summer, you don't have to repaint your walls in blue-white-red or sing La Marseillaise à gorge deployed. Spending your holidays in France should already be a strong act of support for the homeland, to revive its economy. Like us, the majority of Europeans should spend their summer holidays in their country and thus participate in the revival of bloodless national economies, which can only count on meager foreign tourist receipts.
As of June 15, traffic restrictions should be lifted within the European Union by three-quarters of the member states - who have had their hair cut by Italy, reopened to European visitors since June 3, eager to raise its economy ravaged by the health crisis.
80% of French-French reservations
In France, only 20% of bookings for the summer recorded in travel agencies concern abroad, against 66% usually, revealed on Monday the president of Entreprises du Voyage. And the number of indoor stays booked on the Airbnb platform are up 40% compared to last year.
"Everything is a two-way street: ideally, if countries could, they would close their borders to retain nationals, and they would open them to attract foreign tourists," says Jean-Pierre Mas, who represents French travel agencies.
Make the holidays great again
After a financially devastating confinement, the priority for each State is to revive internal consumption, by betting on the tourist expenditure of its nationals. This also corresponds to the state of mind of many Europeans, reluctant to move away from home.
“But if the French have natural vacation spots in their country, the seaside in Germany, for example, it's a little more complicated than the seaside in France, Spain or Greece. Europeans will not necessarily react in the same way, ”underlines Jean-Pierre Mas.
Let's go home consumers, the day of spending has arrived
The French government advocates “three-color” tourism and will launch the # CetétéjevisitelaFrance campaign to extol the riches of France. Same policy across the Rhine, with "Discover Germany" - campaign launched by the 16 regional states and available only in German.
In Spain, the head of government Pedro Sanchez called for the "reactivation of national tourism". But for a country where tourism represents 12% of GDP, it is impossible to envisage a season without foreign visitors, hence the “Spain is waiting for you” campaign.
Low prices and a pampered population
"Greek summer is more than the sea and the sun ... it's a state of mind", for its part, Greece launches to international tourists, for whom it has lowered the VAT on 24 to 13% transport (plane, train, boat) and tourist "packages". The Greek government does not forget its population: it will more than double the number of beneficiaries of social tourism, and has lowered the price of boat tickets to encourage locals to go to the islands.
If it also makes big calls with the foot to the foreigners, Italy wants to favor its nationals thanks to “bonus holidays” of 500 euros maximum for the families (according to the incomes) to spend by the end of December - whereas 73 % of Italians usually spend the summer holidays in the Peninsula.
But despite this domestic consumption, the tourist nights lost will number in the tens of millions. "We are witnessing an increase in national demand but it will remain far from compensating for the lack of foreign visitors", summarizes Cesar Gutierrez Calvo, president of the Spanish federation of travel agencies Fetave.
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