The date is coming. On May 6, King Charles III of England and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles will be officially crowned. The eyes of the whole world will be on Westminster Abbey, London, where the eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II will be recognized as king before God, according to tradition. If the event will be followed by millions of Britons, the French neighbors are not immune to this international craze for the weekend of royal festivities.
They are even particularly eager to go to London on the occasion of this weekend of royal festivities. The travel booking site Kayak.fr noted a 207% increase in searches for flights to London from France compared to the same weekend in 2022. This is significantly more than the average for European countries, which are at 65% searches year over year. “The French seem to be the Europeans most captivated by this royal event,” concludes Kayak.fr.
The same trend is observed by competitor Expedia.com, which recorded a 265% jump in flight searches for London from France. The attraction of the French for the coronation of the British king is also confirmed in the reservations of train tickets. The European Trainline platform recorded a 41% increase in the number of reservations from France traveling to London on the weekend of May 6.
More generally, the three days planned to celebrate the coronation promise to be very prosperous in terms of tourism for the British capital. Hotels recorded an increase in searches from other European countries of just over 100% compared to the same period last year, again according to data from the Kayak.fr website. As far as France is concerned, Expedia.com notes an impressive 435% boom in searches for hotels to stay in London over the coronation weekend.