2023-05-12 11:00:08
The high-profile strike days against the pension reform have sparked much debate in France, where there are fears the protests could harm tourism and tarnish the country’s image.
Yet there is no evidence that strikes harm the French economy as a whole. France is not going to lose its title of the most visited country in the world: it is the 7e world economy and tourism represents 10% you PIB. Additionally, early indications indicate that long-haul travel is booming for the months of May and June.
Nevertheless, strikes in France are having an impact on individual travel plans: data for 2023 shows that the protests disrupted the plans of ten million passengers.
The number of visitors to France is up 33% for 2023
Figures showing that pent-up demand for an end to the pandemic has not dented demand for Paris getaways, despite images of rotting rubbish in the streets or the threat of strikes by air traffic controllers.
Digital marketing platform Sojern says American travelers are returning to Europe in droves, with the number of American tourists to Paris up 33% from 2022 figures.
Trainline Europe has recently seen an increase in bookings for Paris. The French capital is currently the most popular destination for groups of three or more travelers and, along with London, it is the number one destination for solo travellers. Similarly, TripIt lists London, Paris and Rome as the top long-haul destinations for Americans traveling in June.
As a result, travel app Hopper reports that the price of plane tickets to Europe is the highest it has been in five years. Indeed, travel to Europe currently costs an average of $1,167 per ticket for summer departures, or 36% more than last year, or about $317 more per ticket.
This price increase is due to a combination of low capacity, the increase in the price of kerosene and the explosion in demand. On Hopper, travelers travel to London, Paris and Tokyo from the United States.
Most French tourism is not long-haul international tourism
France is also protected by a large national tourist market. Only 30% tourism in Francecome from long-haul international visitors. Traditionally, the French like to spend their holidays in their own country, enjoying its mountains, cities, lakes and beaches, and many of them visit these places during most of August. , when the country closes for the summer holidays. Many unions regard this period as sacrosanct: they do not seek to irritate hoteliers and restaurateurs or alienate angry holidaymakers who cannot make it to their destination.
There is some evidence to suggest that unrest and political actions lead to a reduction in bed occupancy nights, the indicator by which tourism data is judged. During the 2019 Yellow Vest protests against social inequality, which preceded the pandemic, the number of occupied beds fell, but it is impossible to know whether these visitors actually canceled their stay or simply postponed it. at a later date.
INSEE a analysis previous social protests and found that they had had very little impact on economic growth. In addition, as a large part of the strikes are linked to the transport sector, INSEE predicts that the impact of this 2023 movement will be all the more limited as the pandemic has caused everyone to work online, which means that people can easily adapt to temporary disruptions in their travel behavior.
Moreover, while France is known to be a country that likes to protest, the number of strike days is lower today than in the 1970s and, as in recent summers, it is more likely that shortages of water, the risk of fire and heat waves encourage more tourists to go elsewhere.
30% of daily European flights affected by 2023 strikes
The real losers from these strikes are individual travellers, many of whom have suffered significant delays since the strikes began in January.
The European air traffic control body Eurocontrol has published data for the period between 1is March and April 9, during which ten million travelers experienced delays or cancellations, i.e. 64,000 passengers per day in France alone. Usually, the punctuality of the planes reaches almost 80%, but during the days of the strike, it fell to around 70%.
The problem does not only concern flights taking off and landing in France, as many flights cross French airspace. Thus, every day, up to 3,300 flights take off and land at French airports, while another 3,700 cross French airspace. In all, 16% of these flights were affected by strikes by air traffic controllers (although this figure increases if we take into account flights canceled more than three days before a planned strike action).
Ryanair, Air France and Easyjet are the three airlines which recorded the most delays and cancellations during this period. Ryanair, in particular, is asking the European Union to protect transit flights, saying customers traveling from the UK to Italy should not bear the brunt of French strikes despite not putting the feet in the country.
While France was the most affected by the air actions, Spain also suffered 15% delayed departures and a 63% increase in cancellations over the same period. The United Kingdom, Italy and Germany suffered between 6 and 8% flight delays or cancellations, mainly overflights.
In Europe, a total of 34 days of industrial action in EU countries affected 237,000 flights. For comparison, the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in April 2010 had affected 100,000 flights.
Article translated from Forbes US – Author: Alex Ledsom
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