ANALYSIS
The French begin to go on vacation. Special holidays marked by the health crisis linked to the coronavirus. After a confinement of almost two months and a gradual deconfinement, will the French be many to leave? And or ? Guest of Europe 1, Friday, the sociologist Jean Viard affirms that the summer holidays of the year 2020 will be "exceptional and historic holidays", and that the French will be very numerous to leave, whatever the cost.
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Summer vacation, "it's a transhumance"
"First, I think there will be more than in other years," says Jean Viard, referring to the number of holidaymakers who, in normal times, represent half of the French population. "We will certainly reach 60%," he continues, insisting on a common need to go out and breathe, after several months of confinement and then a gradual deconfinement during which the French had to limit their movements.
As for the destination, the sociologist reminds us: "The French are massively going to France". Words confirmed by an OpinionWay poll, last June, according to which 71% of French people planned to leave for France. Summer vacation "is transhumance", he adds, while one in two people bathe their whole life on the same beach, the beach on which their parents have bathed.
The preference for France, Jean Viard explains it more than ever by the fear of the virus. "We are going to go a little less abroad, for the simple reason that if you catch the virus, you do not want to be in a hospital where you do not understand anything," he adds, evoking before a whole "security measure".
Leave shorter but leave
To leave, but maybe less long? According to the sociologist, retirees, who represent 25% of the French population, saw their income increase during the crisis. Employees, who have been placed in telework, "have made savings, they have stopped consuming", continues Jean Viard, who figures at 60 billion euros the amount of savings made over the period of confinement.
The French therefore have the means to go on vacation, he believes, adding that even the unemployed and the French who, following the crisis, fear for their jobs, will leave, even if that means going shorter. "The average length of summer stays is almost three weeks. When you have no money, you leave for 15 days, or 10 days," says Jean Viard. So, for him, more than leaving, it is "rather the length of the vacation that is in question".
The holidays, "it is the big massive event of this year", abounds the sociologist, who recalls that 70% of the French have the habit of leaving with family. This year, they should not deviate from the rule, animated by a need to find themselves after months of worry and, for some, of isolation. This year, the holidays will also be less cultural, many events having been canceled, Covid-19 obliges. "It's an evolution," notes Jean Viard. "It's going to be an unusual, exceptional year, we will remember it for a very long time."
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"This is what makes us human"
No performance halls, no festivals, no nightclubs ... The 2020 holidays "will be historic, because they are not going to be the same", explains Jean Viard. According to him, despite the difficulties linked to the health context, vacations and travel are of major importance. "Travel is humanity that makes community."
In 1968, Jean Viard recalls that international tourists represented 60 million people. Today there are 1.3 billion. "That's what makes us human," insists the sociologist. "Above all, we must not prevent world travel", he continues, while the borders are gradually reopening.