Clément Lesaffre, edited by Thibaud Le Meneec 09h00, September 04, 2021
If the beginning of September rhymes with the return to school for many children and their parents, others take the opportunity to go on vacation.
Fewer tourists, more affordable prices, the feeling of living a beautiful Indian summer… And the off-season promises to be pretty good.
DECRYPTION
The start of the school year ?
Not for everybody !
Certainly, after a summer turned towards France, millions of French people have found their way back to work or school at the beginning of September, which oscillates between gloom and the ever-present sun.
And after a year and a half of the pandemic, many people want to extend the summer.
According to ADN Tourisme, the organization that brings together all the Tourist Offices, more than two in five French people have planned to go on vacation or for a weekend in September and as many in October!
"A fairly regional clientele"
On the Gîtes de France side, for example, the occupancy rate reached 50% in September, 13 points more than in 2019. This could increase further.
"Today, more than ever, people really book at the last minute, they wait to see the weather forecast and the traffic conditions", assures Sylvie Pellegrin, president of Gîtes de France.
"We therefore have a fairly regional clientele, which is new. We still have Bretons who go to the south of France, and vice versa, but we have discovered a fairly local clientele, who go only 100 or 200 kilometers from at home for a change of scenery. "
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Dunkirk, Le Havre ...
After a summer spent mostly at the beach, for September, the French are opting for the cities. Among the most popular destinations on Airbnb for the coming weeks, next to Anglet and Dieppe, are cities such as Dunkirk, Béthune, Roanne, Le Havre and Châlon-sur-Saône.