French Hotel Industry Performances July 2012 - A miserable July for the French hotel industry
The sunny spell so hoped for was not to be in July, as most hotels in France saw their occupancy rates drop last month. Although remaining moderate, these declines cast a further shadow over the rather difficult context experienced since the beginning of the year. This is particularly the case in regional France, where hoteliers continue to hope for a return to normal and lie in wait for the first signs of market recovery.
like the weather, July‟s hotel performances throughout most of France were downcast. Occupancy continued to lose steam, with most categories recording declines. Although these drops were modest, they are part of a continual worrying trend.
Paris, however, did not do so badly, managing to offset slight decreases in demand with (often) significantly higher average rates. On the Côte d‟Azur and in several cities, lower occupancy was partially balanced by better average rates than in 2011. Nevertheless in most other destinations, declining occupancy had a direct impact on rooms revenue.
For corporate hotels, the fact that the 14th of July fell on a Saturday, enabled them to "lengthen" one of the weeks traditionally favourable for business trips. Yet, the recession hasn‟t gone away, and still weighs heavily on company budgets. Moreover, the dismal weather conditions in Northern France during July did not favour short city leisure breaks, and hotels weren‟t able to benefit from the shift of coastal / rural visitors towards urban destinations – at least not sufficiently to reverse the underlying bearish trend. Rouen and Le Havre were the exception to this, posting both higher occupancy and average rates, which confirms the growth in tourism for these cities observed over the past few years.
And the luxury segment wasn‟t spared either in July – neither in Paris nor on the Côte d‟Azur. Occupancy and average rates dropped here for the first time in months. This was largely linked to Ramadan, beginning in the second half of July and thus affecting earlier the travelling plans of high-spending Middle Eastern visitors. That said, luxury hotels in both Paris and the Côte d‟Azur should manage to restore performances in August, thanks to a busier second half of the month.
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