Paris (AFP)

The Covid 19 epidemic caused "considerable damage" to tourism activity in Île-de-France in the first half of 2020, with a shortfall of 6.4 billion euros, the number of tourists having fallen by over 14 million.

Over the period, revenue related to tourism activity fell to 3.8 billion euros against 10.2 billion over the first six months of 2019, according to figures from the Regional Tourism Committee (CRT) of Paris Ile-de-France published Thursday.

Only 9.4 million tourists visited the capital and its region, compared to 23.7 million in the first half of last year.

"Tourism is an extremely valuable economic activity in Ile-de-France, which represents 500,000 jobs, and 7 to 8% of the creation of regional wealth," recalled the president of the region Valérie Pécresse, presenting these figures to the press.

"For four years, we have been announcing pulverized attendance records, so it is with great sadness that we have seen the pandemic come to shatter an extremely flourishing and dynamic sector in the region," she added.

Unsurprisingly, due to the paralysis of air traffic and long-haul flights in particular, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the largest drop is that of international customers with a decline, in the first half of the year, of 68% of stays. against -54% for French customers, details the committee.

In terms of tourism consumption, "the shortfall caused by the absence of international tourists is much greater, with a drop in revenue of 4.6 billion euros, against -1.8 billion euros for tourists from France.

"The year 2020 will be a year of a sad record of drop in attendance" for Ile-de-France, the locomotive of French tourism, comments the CRT, stressing that "the tourist activity of the destination Paris Region, especially outside Paris, however, shows signs of recovery this summer ".

Thus, "after a promising start to the year despite the onset of the health crisis and the continuation of social movements in France, tourist activity ceased from mid-March" due to the pandemic.

In the first half of 2020, hotel nights were down 61% compared to the first six months of 2019, against a drop of 47% for seasonal rentals and furnished apartments.

"During the months of June and July, more than one in two Parisian hotels was still closed, while in Île-de-France outside Paris, the figures are better, with nearly 70% of hotels being open, according to the MKG cabinet.

© 2020 AFP