Europe 1 with AFP 19:26, August 23, 2021

Invited Monday for the start of "La France bouge", the boss of Club Med, Henri Giscard d'Estaing returned to the current form of his company in a context of the Covid-19 health crisis.

"It's an encouraging summer," he said, with a stronger-than-expected recovery.

INTERVIEW

The summer was "encouraging" for Club Med with more than 40 open villages out of 65 in the world, a "strong" American market and a "well-distributed" French market, according to its boss Henri Giscard d'Estaing, guest of 'Europe 1 in

La France bouge

, Monday.

"It's an encouraging summer," said the leader.

"It is not yet an easy summer since we have certainly been able to open a little more than 40 Club Meds around the world, but two years ago it was 51", he qualified.

"Bring foreigners back to France"

In 2019, Club Med was only able to open 27

resorts

.

"The market which has recovered the strongest is the American market", assured Henri Giscard d'Estaing.

According to him, the French market is also "well started", with a "powerful rebound in May and June" and "last minute" bookings throughout the summer.

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"This summer the proportion of foreigners has dropped by 5 points in our case compared to what it was two years ago," he said.

"It is essential to bring foreigners back to France", according to Henri Giscard d'Estaing who does not intend to "cut prices".

Overall, attendance at Club Med this summer will be "down compared to 2019 but to a limited extent", he said without giving any figures.

Confidence in the winter season

"There are villages that we have not been able to open and villages that we have not been able to keep open," said the leader. In particular, Club Med had to close its village in Martinique because of the epidemic peak in the French Antilles. "Our capacity over the summer, worldwide, is 25% lower than it was two years ago," said the boss of Club Med.

For the winter season, Henri Giscard d'Estaing believes that "with the sanitary pass and all the precautions taken for two years, there are every reasons for the mountain to be open". Very affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which put a stop to tourism, the pioneer of French village-clubs - the first of which opened in the 1950s -, owned by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun, had seen its activity drop by 58% in 2020.