The hotel industry is one of the sectors that is the most exposed to the potential consequences of an avian influenza epidemic. Also, the worry was great –in addition to the obvious sanitary consequences – when the first cases of contaminated poultry were reported in the department of the Ain. Particularly since the discovery was made right in the middle of the school holidays for Academies outside the Paris Region, that were en route for the Alps. And yet no one deserted the department’s hotels. And that despite an intense beating from the media and alarmist declarations from professional tourism organisations that are already making claims for public compensation for damages. While it is true that the occupancy rate in the department was down slightly in February (–3.2 points), this drop seems limited with respect to the level of occupancy reported for the month (70.2%). At the hotel Ibis in Bourgen- Bresse, every effort is made to be reassured and reassuring: “there has been no noticeable drop in activity, whereas we are on the axis for Alps-ward holiday departures,” observes the reception manager. “Our occupancy was even more stable than in other years.”The en masse arrival of the media that came to cover the discovery of the ducks even constituted an godsend for some properties. Only the zone immediately surrounding the area where the infected animals were discovered, meaning the lake zone, experienced any repercussions. “Authorities closed the area around the lakes to promenades and the golf competitions that were supposed to begin were cancelled. We are losing clients who used to come to relax in the region, the Swiss in particular, who are quite fond of golf,” deplores a spokesperson at the Auberge des Bichonnières in Ambérieux-en-Dombes, near the “suspicious” lakes. For the rest of the city, the traffic...