Cannes' hotel industry puts on a show

Cannes shone more brightly than ever at this year's edition of its famous festival dedicated to the 7th art, with attendance up by 4%. A total of almost 40,000 accredited festival-goers and 15,000 professionals attended from 13 to 24 May. David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes, points out that "these figures only cover a fraction of the total attendance. There were tens of thousands of other visitors to the event".

"The International Film Festival has assumed its status as the biggest cultural event in the world [...]. [...] These human flows, around our Palais des Festivals et des Congrès - France's leading convention centre in terms of turnover, ahead of Paris - and in all areas of the town, are vital for our destination. David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes

According to the Mayor of Cannes, the festival generates economic spin-offs of over €200 million and ‘irrigates the entire professional fabric of Cannes and the Côte d'Azur’. It's an event that's all the more vital for Cannes' hotel industry, since the festival ‘generated 20% of the annual turnover of hoteliers, i.e. around 80,000 overnight stays’.

Midscale and upscale hotels, the stars of the Cannes Festival

Festival de Cannes 2025 par Hospitality ON 

While the previous edition of the Festival performed well, with a stable occupancy rate and rising average prices, what about this year? It would appear that the results are more or less the same. Attendance is almost the same as last year (-0.1 points), while average daily rates continue to climb (+13.5%).

The price elasticity of the city's hotels during an event attracting such a large number of visitors enabled the city's hoteliers to see their RevPAR grow by 13.4%. The large number of foreign festival-goers means that prices can easily be driven up, especially during such a high-profile...