Paris (AFP)
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, figures at least 30 to 40 billion euros "the immediate impact" of the health crisis on the French tourism sector, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, stressing that part of the international clientele "has disappeared".
"In normal times, tourism generates 180 billion euros in revenue, 60 billion of which comes from international tourism. The immediate impact of the epidemic is at least 30 to 40 billion euros," said the secretary of 'State.
"Many operators tell us that their turnover will be down 20 to 25% by the end of the year," he adds.
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne observes that "the French are participating massively in the revival of the tourism sector by favoring France" and underlines that 7 out of 10 of those who have gone on vacation have chosen the Hexagon. "Blue, white, red summer is here," he says.
"This saves the essential," said the secretary of state. "But let's be clear: in normal times, France welcomes 17 million foreign tourists every summer when 9 million French go abroad" and "part of this international clientele has disappeared", he continues.
Mr. Lemoyne considers however "encouraging (...) that the intentions of departure for France of the Belgian, German, Italian and Spanish customers for September are higher than for July and August", which would allow "to prolong the summer "and" to consolidate the recovery of the sector ".
The Secretary of State also welcomes "an encouraging month of July" and "hopes that the month of August will be excellent" and the off-season "in the colors of Indian summer".
But "this recovery is fragile", he adds, because "as soon as a cluster appears, the effect is immediate on the cancellations of stays and on the reservations".
© 2020 AFP