Holidays and fuel prices: nearly 50% of French people will travel a shorter distance

A study commissioned by the booking platform Campings.com reveals how French people are reacting to the combined effect of the oil shock and the cost-of-living crisis: holidays closer to home, shorter and more economical stays.

As a consequence of the current international geopolitical context, French people are reacting by adapting their holiday plans. According to a study carried out on a sample of 1,530 customers of the Campings.com platform from 30 March to 6 April, the following trends emerge:

• Priority to proximity: 71% of respondents will favour France for their summer holidays and 12% are considering staying in Europe.
• Wait-and-see attitude: 16% are still undecided and are waiting to see how the situation develops before deciding on their destination.
• Budget control: faced with soaring fuel prices, 75% of French people will reduce their holiday budget compared with summer 2025.

“Fuel prices are reshaping the map of holiday departures: French people are not giving up their holidays, but they are reinventing them. Proximity is becoming a decisive criterion, just like the value for money of accommodation,” said Daiana Hirte, Communications Director of Campings.com.

Cost-of-living crisis: a burden on holidays

This inflation acts as a direct accelerator of the cost-of-living crisis and strongly influences decisions to go on holiday. In this context, French people are massively adapting their behaviour and this new study confirms a clear tightening of budget trade-offs:

• Proximity is no longer a choice but an economic constraint: 47% say they will travel a shorter distance because of fuel prices (which, according to the Government website, have never been so high in 40 years).
• Rise in accommodation prices: in 2023, 58% had already noticed an increase in holiday rental prices; this year they are 82%. The majority of holidaymakers (53%) are looking for rentals under €500 per week in July/August. To preserve their holiday plans, 67% of households are sacrificing their clothing budget and 44% their usual leisure outings.
• New consumer habits: 56% of French people are considering travelling in the off-season and 31% are thinking of reducing the length of their stay this summer.

The study also reveals that 40% of holidaymakers will reduce their spending on site. This budget-control logic goes so far as to change the holiday destination for one third of French people, who say they will wait until the last moment to decide depending on the price of petrol.

Camping remains a safe haven

Value for money, natural geographical proximity, preserved family experience… camping has always been the preferred type of accommodation for French people (149 million overnight stays in 2025 and 2 out of 3 customers are French – source FNHPA).

Today, outdoor hospitality is establishing itself even more as the most resilient tourism accommodation model: 96% of French people have a budget of less than €1,000 per week for a summer holiday rental. 28% would even be ready to choose a less luxurious campsite in order to preserve their holiday.

This article was originally published by Bruno Lacroix on L’Officiel des Terrains de Camping.