PARIS - March 3, 2023 - The data collected and analyzed by Sojern - the leading digital marketing platform dedicated to the tourism industry - at the start of 2023, shows that France is positioned at the top of European hotel reservations over the year thus far, followed by Spain, Greece, Italy and Germany. In addition, at the end of January 2023, global searches for flights to France are up compared to the previous year worldwide: +63% in the APAC region, +50% in the United States and in Canada, +22% in the EMEA region, +19% in the Caribbean and +15% in the LATAM region.
France, a favorite destination for international travelers for 2023?
- Compared to the start of the year, searches for international flights to France have increased by 52%, searches for hotels have increased by +134%.
- The majority of flight search times in the last 60 days (number of days between search and travel) are greater than two months, indicating a strong intention to travel to France in spring/summer 2023. This observation also aligns with national and intra-regional searches.
This desire of international travelers to (re)discover France in 2023 is confirmed by the Barometer of long-haul travel recently published by the European Tourism Commission (ETC), which indicates that the sentiment of long-haul travelers to Europe has improved, despite high global inflation.
The report looked at potential travelers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Russia* and the United States. France appears as the top favourite destination of Australians, Canadians, Chinese, Americans and Japanese, and the second for Brazilians
Another recent report by the ETC, “Monitoring Sentiment for Domestic and Intra-European Travel”, highlights that France is the country of choice for Europeans for their next international trip and that more than three quarters of French travelers plan to travel for short-term leisure purposes.
However, French travelers are not left out and many of them seem to have decided to discover the richness of the French regions this year.
- Compared to the start of this year, national searches for flights to France have increased by 28%
- Searches for hotels made to and from France have increased by 80%
Similar to flight searches, the majority of hotel searches in the past 60 days (number of days between search and travel) are being more than two months ahead, indicating once again, travelers are already planning their summer in France.
Type of travelers
More than half of travelers to France are single travelers (60%), followed by almost a quarter couples (22%) and almost a fifth families (18%).
The majority of travelers want to stay in France for no longer than a week, with international travel split fairly evenly between those wanting to stay up to a week, up to a fortnight and more than two weeks.
As with flights, hotel searches show that the majority of travelers are looking to stay in France for up to a week, particularly when it comes to intra-regional travel (58%).
"Despite the uncertainties linked to global inflation and a turbulent social context, it is gratifying to observe that France seems to be approaching this period positively” comments Céline Chaussegros, General Manager Europe of Sojern. “With recent data indicating that travelers are already in the research and booking phase of their spring and summer vacations, now is the perfect time for our industry to capitalize on this travel intent and advance planning. It is important for hoteliers and destinations not to underestimate the importance of data, the strength of a multi-channel marketing approach and the advantage of permanent visibility, in order to optimize their return on investment in this pivotal period for the travel sector,” she explains.
About Sojern
Sojern is the leading digital marketing platform built for travel marketers. Powered by artificial intelligence and traveler intent data, Sojern provides multichannel marketing solutions to drive direct demand. More than 10,000 hotels, attractions, tourism boards and travel marketers rely on Sojern annually to engage and convert travelers around the world.
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