Message from Nicolas Dayot, president of FNHPA

The French FNHPA – Fédération nationale de l’Hôtellerie de plein air represents, promotes and defends the interests of the camping sector with public authorities and tourism organizations at the national level. Today, it represents 4,000 individual members working in the open air tourism. For number of camping represented, France is the first in Europe and the second in the world. Nicolas Dayot, president of FNHPA, wrote a letter to all the members. Although the situation in France is constantly changing, we publish this document.

Dear colleagues,
The Minister of Health’s order has just appeared in the official journal.
By national solidarity, and because our future all depends on it, we invite you to scrupulously respect government decisions. However, we should distinguish two cases:
1 – Campsites that are already open can remain open, but their internal businesses can no longer accommodate the public and must be closed until April 15, 2020; this concerns restaurants, drinking places, spaces for shows and meetings, gathering places, indoor sports areas, including swimming pools. As an exception, this closure does not apply to grocery stores and take-away for restaurants. Uncovered pools are not explicitly mentioned, but we strongly recommend keeping them closed as they could be considered as spaces for the spread of the virus.
2 – For campsites, which were to open in the coming weeks, there is no closure measure imposed on them at this stage, but we advise all those who can organize themselves to delay their opening a few weeks. Given the above measures, the attractiveness of establishments naturally becomes low and government incentives to limit travel will certainly encourage consumers to question their projects. The situation keeps evolving, however, leading national or local authorities to issue closure orders, case by case or even systematically.
In all cases and for all campsites, we urge you to apply in your establishments (customers and employees), and to apply to yourself, the hygiene guidelines and suggestions recommended by the State, in making a particular effort on the common areas.
We ask you to post barrier gestures and infographics prepared by Public Health France in the campsite, and to indicate to your clients that they should care to avoid gatherings within the campsite – including outside. We remain fully mobilized and will come back to you tomorrow to provide you with further details.
Yours,
Nicolas DAYOT