The year 2025 seems to be smiling on the tourism sector, with a record number of long weekends in May. All these bridging days are an opportunity for the French to multiply their stays, boosting the performance of the French hotel industry. However, these figures are difficult to interpret because of the difference in calendar dates compared with last year, when Ascension Day and 8 May fell in the same week.
1st May bank holiday: a very busy week
OTB - Ponts mois de mai 2025 par Hospitality ON
The first bank holiday in May is enjoying a strong momentum, with bookings up by 8.5%. Several destinations are even posting double-digit increases, including Paris (+17.5%), the eastern Mediterranean coast (+14.5%) and the western Mediterranean coast (+11.8%).
With France Météo forecasting near-summer temperatures, it's hardly surprising that travellers are flocking to coastal destinations. What's more, this is set to be the best-weathered May bank holiday of all 2025, unlike last year when it was particularly rainy.
However, this positive trend also extends to more remote destinations, such as the south-west interior (+8.9%) and inland cities outside Paris and the coast (+8.5%).
However, the seafronts further north did not follow this trend, with a fall of -11.5% for the Brittany coast and -7.4% for the North Atlantic coast. Only the Channel coast saw an increase in bookings compared to last year (+3.4%). According to Adrien Lanotte, Senior Data Analyst at MKG Consulting, although booking levels are not as good as last year, they are still good.
8 May bank holiday: an unfavourable calendar effect
All destinations recorded a more or less significant fall in bookings for this second May bank holiday, with the exception of Paris (+4.1%). This difference is simply due to a calendar shift, since in 2024 Ascension Day also fell during this week, whereas this year it falls at the end of the month.
Nationally, the decline was -8.1%. And only a few areas did not record a double-digit fall, including inland cities (-4.4%), the South-West (-5.3%), the eastern Mediterranean coast (-8.1%) and the Ile de France excluding Paris (-9.2%).
These are destinations that are either conducive to short city-breaks, even outside holiday periods, or to sustained MICE activity. So...
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