The secretary of state Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne wishes the reopening of a "maximum of tourist places" on June 21 to start the season, specifying that the calendar will be detailed "around May 25", in an interview with the JDD. "June 21 is the start of summer: I hope that on this date, and maybe even before if sanitary conditions allow, the maximum number of places will be accessible so that the summer season can really start" , he says.
The French, "engine of the restart" of tourism
"See you around May 25: on this date, we will be able to detail the opening calendar for a certain number of sites," added the secretary of state, who advocates a "blue, white, red" summer. "It is the French who will be the engine of the revival of the tourist economy", he assures, after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced this week that his fellow citizens could go on vacation to France this summer.
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The head of government unveiled on Thursday a "massive" tourism recovery plan, representing "for public finances a commitment of 18 billion euros". Hotels, restaurants, tour operators: the entire French industry has been shutdown since mid-March, and 62,000 of its businesses have already benefited from 6.2 billion euros in loans guaranteed by the State.
Not "all together in one place"
Asked about the risk of seeing several million people rush at the same time on the beaches of the south of the country, Mr. Lemoyne wants to be reassuring and calls for the "responsibility" of the French. "The French held for two months of confinement with responsibility. I trust them. Likewise, I trust them for a harmonious distribution throughout the territory," he said.
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"It won't necessarily be the race, all together in the same place," he continues. "The reflex will be to go to places that we know, where we feel safe."