Perspectives on travel recovery: France

In France, the domestic market has been the most resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. Impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the French tourism market has dropped by nearly 60% between 2019 and 2020, and it is not expected to return to its pre-crisis level until 2024 (close to European average).

In terms of value, the market has lost more than half of its value in one year and more than 700 000 direct jobs have been affected. Domestic expenditures have been the most resilient, even though this has declined by nearly 50%: it is the business segment that has been most affected, and at this stage do not expect it return to its pre-crisis level until 2027 (2024 for the leisure segment).

Outbound expenditures (i.e. French traveling abroad) dropped by approximately 70% between 2019 and 2020 (the business segment suffered the most with a drop in expenditures of about 80%). However, France is in the top 3 in terms of total outbound spend (22 value in USD bn) only behind Germany and UK.

France tourism market dropped by almost 60 percent in 2020; market recovery is expected for 2024.