It seems tourism is Paris is still down due to the recent Covid outbreaks. Numbers for June through August are down more than 50% over the same period in 2019. Hotels revenue is down 60%, the Seine sightseeing boats are reporting a drop of 50%, and even the Eifel Tower is seeing daily visitor numbers drop in half.
The report says that the rest of France is not as bad as Paris in terms of tourism numbers.
So revenue at hotels is off more than revenue at sights? Are at least some tourists seeing attractions and sightseeing on boats, but not staying over as much? Are sights charging more than before, so picking up at least some relative revenue that way? Are any hotels charging less than 2 years ago, to attract at least some lodging? To keep places open, how much staff are being paid - I wonder how much expenses factor into the net revenue of businesses in the tourism sector?
From trip research I've been doing during the pandemic (not for French destinations), I'd say hotel rates seem to be down significantly for low-end places in cities--perhaps not at beach/mountain destinations popular with Europeans. I haven't seen reductions in entry fees, in general, though I did spot a very few museum websites that announced short-term reductions back in 2020.
Well, I don't want to jinx our trip, but this sounds good for our impending trip this coming week. We haven't received our QR code from the French govt. yet, so fingers crossed the Lourve and Eiffel Tower will take our CDC cards for entry!
I gotta say, as one of the ones that arrived first after Americans were let back in---it was a totally different Paris. I feel like i got to visit Paris at a time before the overtourism. I remember walking down my street ---the Rue de Caumartin----on many nights and hearing the people inside watching the football games. It was so cool.
Numbers show tourism higher today than before C19 in all the seaside locations, up 20% in Marseille and Montpellier, 10% along the Riviera, up in Brittany and the Atlantic. Furthermore, numbers aren't dropping at the end of August as they usually do, and campgrounds are still packed. This was broadcast on the French news tonight.
Great time to go to Paris. Of the 12 and over population 71.6% is fully vaccinated. Numbers of new cases last week was slowly descending; we'll see what happens this week.
