France is undoubtedly the most important European country from the point of view of en plein air tourism and related accommodation facilities, so much so that we are talking about a turnover of €2.8 billion. An updated portrait of the sector, all in numbers, was made by the FNHPA (Fédération Nationale de l’Hôtellerie de Plein Air), which includes 4,300 campsites representing 90% of the sector’s activity.
The French have the primacy in terms of the number of beds in tourist accommodation facilities and also in terms of the number of campsites in the European Union, which are the 33% of the total. On the other hand, they are second in the world, surpassed only by the United States. 22% of the turnover, excluding taxes, is reinvested every year by the companies. Due to the impact of the health crisis, some figures are attributable to 2019, the last reference year.
In France we are talking about 129 million nights for a total of 22 million tourists welcomed every year. Two out of three campers are French, followed by 10% Dutch, 7% Germans, 5% British, 4% Belgians and 5% tourists from other states. There are 7,592 campsites (source L’Officiel des Terrains) and a total of 872,647 pitches with a capacity of 2.6 million people.
Wanting to classify French campsites based on the number of stars, there are mainly 3-stars (33%) and 2-stars (24%), followed by 18% of “unclassified” and 17% of 4-stars. The percentages of 5-star campsites (3%) and 1-star campsites (5%) are low. From the point of view, on the other hand, of prices we are talking about of €190 per week for a pitch and 4 people against €490 which, for the same number of nights and people, are paid on average for rented accommodation.
What about the prices per single night? In France, in high season, on average, €23 are paid for 2 people, with electricity included. The average length of overnight stays in all accommodation facilities is 2.6 nights, while in campsites it is 5.1 and in rental accommodation it is 6.5 nights.
Focus Covid-19: the summer 2020
How did the open-air accommodation facilities in France “resist”? According to INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques) 62% of foreign tourists stayed in campsites, while 38% chose hotels, holiday villages, houses rented by private individuals, hostels and so on. From the point of view, however, of the number of nights divided according to the accommodation facility, the campsite continues to win with a percentage of 52 percent. 48% are hotels and all the other types mentioned above.
En plein air accommodation facilities employ 50,000 people, of which 40,000 are seasonal workers and 10,000 are salaried annually.
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