Not surprisingly, the 46e edition of KPMG's annual survey of the French hotel industry provides an overview of the French hotel industry. positive assessment of hotel activity in France. Despite the relative absence of Asian tourists, largely offset by a still solid domestic market and the contribution of customers from North America and the UK, the French hotel industry is set to enjoy good growth in 2022, as it will in 2023.
" The first half of 2023 was particularly good, especially in Paris and the major conurbationssays Stéphane Botz, Partner and Director of KPMG Hospitality France. 2023 will undoubtedly be a very good year, boosted by events such as the Paris Air Show and the Rugby World Cup.. This upturn is set to continue, with Stéphane Botz estimating that" 2024 will no doubt be a similar storyThe Olympic Games in particular. There's even a good chance that this will continue in 2025, given what happened after the London Olympics. France as a destination will generate a desire to travel" .
Strong growth in average fares, across-the-board increase in RevPAR: this study highlights the very significant fare growth that passengers have been seeing for many months. " We've been observing this market for 46 years, despite all the crises, average prices have always risen faster than inflation" says Stéphane Botz. This is particularly true of luxury hotels, as the study's dedicated observatory shows an average price increase of almost +36% vs 2019.
This policy of high prices - the median being 1,400 euros per night - is accelerating the transformation of the customer mix of these hotels, which is essentially focused on leisure, as shown by an average length of stay of 3.9 days. " In 2022, leisure customers accounted for 88% of hotel occupancy, whereas before covid, the norm was 75% leisure and 25% business, or even 65%-35% in some establishments.says the director of KPMG Hospitality France. There is virtually no place for business travellers in palaces any more. Companies are no longer prepared to pay this price, even for a CEO." .
More generally, individual corporate customers are not not totally back to its pre-covid level, unlike the seminars. " At a time when unemployment is at an all-time low, companies are making fewer journeys, taking greater care with day trips by TGV or spending fewer nights on site." points out Stéphane Botz. This may explain, for example, why four-star urban residences are struggling to return to their pre-crisis occupancy levels (-3.5 pts compared with 2019).
The study also looked at the development of the hotel sector, which is still expanding. While the French hotel industry will have 16,850 establishments with 627,621 rooms in 2023, KPMG has identified 125 new hotel projects - for a total of 16,000 rooms - which should be completed by 2026. Of these, around thirty hotels are planned in the Greater Paris area, contributing to an increase in room supply from 5% to 7% over the coming years. Others include Nice Côte d'Azur (8-10%) and Toulouse (6-8%). " Still a strong business destination" emphasises Stéphane Botz. More generally, future developments will focus on the top end of the market - a buoyant segment for leisure and bleisure breaks - and on the major French cities, such as Paris, Nice and Toulouse, as well as Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille and Strasbourg.
