Are the French ready to break the bank to treat themselves to a great vacation? This is what the latest Opinionway barometer for Sofinco suggests, which indicates that more than half of households are planning to leave this summer, with an average budget of 1,697 euros. We have to go back to 2012, twelve years earlier, to find such a high amount of spending.
A sign that inflation is falling and making way for salary increases, this budget is up 12% compared to last year. But the surge in prices continues to impact the most modest French people. 41% of respondents will stay at home this summer, more than last year. More than half of them say they cannot afford it (61%) and a few (24%) would be encouraged to leave if they could benefit from payment facilities.
Those who decide to set sail also pay attention to their wallets. Going on vacation requires a financial effort for more than seven out of ten French people (76%, or 5 points more than last year) and more and more of them are saving throughout the year to finance their trip (51 %, 4 points more than in 2023).
In this context, future summer visitors favor short lengths of stay, so as not to see their budget soar. They will be 8% from less than a week, 37% from one week (an increase of 12 points over 12 years) and 33% from two weeks. Only a minority of vacationers (22%) will leave for three weeks or more.
Another lesson from this barometer: the French say they are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their vacations. Three-quarters of them try to limit their polluting emissions and promote good ecological practices during their stay, as long as this does not increase their vacation budget. The majority of respondents therefore consider traveling by train rather than by plane to travel in France or Europe (57%).