The halftone weather in July weighs on the attendance of hotels and restaurants

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In Hyères (Var), on the beach, this Thursday morning, some rare bathers. A tourist who has come here every summer for over 30 years has more space than usual to enjoy the sea: “There are fewer people on the beach. Usually, it’s crowded. In the city center, it’s the same. In terms of shops, all that”he notes.

Fewer people on beaches and in shops. In a seafood restaurant, attendance is down at least 20 % compared to July 2024. The reasons, according to the owner: the drop in purchasing power and capricious weather in recent weeks. “We had rain, wind. I think the weather is a big factor. We are a region where people with the internet know the weather directly, so they go where the weather is nice. We have little vacation and you have to use them as much as possible”underlines Jean-François Hingouet, chef of the restaurant “La Brasserie des Îles”.

But after a complicated July tonight, they are complete. “We feel that we are starting to be in the transition between July and August”notes the staff. In a hotel, a return of tourists in August is not yet certain. This year, reservations are long overdue: “Where you see colors, in green and yellow, this is where it is reserved. And where you see that there is no color at all, there is no reservation”Pointe Pia Guerrini, reception head of the hotel “Le Méditerranéen”, which hopes for new reservations in the coming days. “They don’t always reserve their vacation in advance as we were doing before. It’s a lot of last minutes trying to find the best value for money”she notes. According to forecasts from this hotel, their occupancy rate in August will be 85 % this summer, compared to 100 % last year.