"Historical records" in sight for the SNCF this summer.

The railway company announces “an appetite for tourism in France” now that the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have passed.

The summer of 2021 had already been quite good for an SNCF bled white by the coronavirus, with the return of almost all travelers compared to 2019, before the pandemic.

Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, then saw “a real piece of blue sky”.

Great weather, making it possible to forget the storm.

There is a "real craze for holidays in France", and the French are starting to plan their holidays again, whereas they have tended for the past two years to decide at the last moment.

With, rejoices Mr. Fanichet, "a desire for the train".

“We are really picking up a dynamic of growth in attendance and anticipation,” he observes.

And “we are going to exceed 2019”, the previous record summer, predicts the manager whose field includes passenger trains, TGV, Intercités, TER and Parisian suburbs.

Already more tickets sold than in June 2019

No strike threat in sight, he said.

“All railway workers appreciate seeing so many customers on board the trains.

They have been there throughout the Covid period and it is thanks to them that the trains go out every day and that we prepare for the summer, ”he underlines.


No worries either, "at this stage", for the new variants of Covid-19, the mask being well and truly forgotten.

On Wednesday June 15, the SNCF had sold 6.5 million TGV tickets for circulations in July and August, i.e. 10% more than in mid-June in 2019 (and 50% more than last year at the end of same date).

This trend is a continuation of the +10% already observed on high speed in May and June.

The weekends of July 8-9 and the bridge of July 14 are already busy, notes Mr. Fanichet.

"On the bridge of July 14, we already have one in two TGVs which is full for the returns of the 17th."

In this respect, Christophe Fanichet is a little annoyed when some already mention a shortage of train tickets: “Today, we should be at the SNCF the only tourism professionals not to congratulate ourselves on having success this summer. ?

There is an appetite for tourism in France and we are an illustration of it!

“SNCF Voyageurs has also put on sale 500,000 additional seats compared to the summer of 2019, i.e. “a little more than 2%” more capacity, “where there are the most people, towards the Mediterranean, the South-West and Brittany”.

With one regret: welding problems at Alstom which prevented the commissioning of new additional TGVs.

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  • Company

  • SNCF

  • Summer holidays

  • Covid-19