France\u2019s tourism sector has performed well this summer despite record heat, wildfires and geopolitical uncertainty – but the country\u2019s traditional holiday map has started to shift.<\/p>\n
Early figures from Alliance France Tourisme<\/a>, a tourism industry think tank, show that the sector has weathered initial fears over extreme weather and the knock-on effect of conflict in the Middle East better than expected. However, one change is where holidaymakers have chosen to go.<\/p>\n \u201cRecord heat did not reduce demand but redistributed it,\u201d Alliance France Tourisme told The Connexion.<\/p>\n While the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur and Paris continued to attract large numbers of visitors, cooler northern destinations performed strongly, with Normandy, Brittany, the Channel coast and the Alps all benefiting from changing travel patterns.<\/p>\n Tourism Minister Serge Papin also had a positive view of the summer saying that \u201c2025 was a very good year […] and in 2026, we\u2019re going to do at least as well, if not better.\u201d He also highlighted the mountains, saying they were \u201cbecoming a major tourist destination,\u201d and parts of the Manche \u201cwhich a few years ago were not very busy,\u201d are now \u201csaturated.\u201d<\/p>\n A strong start to the summer and a shift<\/p>\n In June, 79.1% of French hotel rooms were occupied, 1.3 percentage points more than in the same month last year. July was also ahead of 2025, with occupancy up 0.9 points.<\/p>\n The figures are notable given that July was the hottest month ever recorded in France<\/a>, with an average temperature of 24.9C.<\/p>\n The heat did appear to influence destination choice. The Channel coast \u201cgained 4.5 points in occupancy in July and exceeded 90% in August, with a clear shift in mid-July, after the peak of the heatwave\u201d, Alliance France Tourisme said.<\/p>\n Normandy was the strongest-performing region in its figures, with occupancy up 2.6 points and revenue per available room up 5.9% in June and July.<\/p>\n Even during the first half of August, when national occupancy fell, 85.2% of rooms were occupied in Normandy, up 1.6 points from a year earlier.<\/p>\n In Hauts-de-France, Dunkirk passed 90% occupancy during the same period, more than eight points above 2025, while Le Touquet\u2019s revenue per room rose by around a quarter in July.<\/p>\n Brittany and the Alps also had a strong summer. Brittany\u2019s August occupancy increased by 1.6 points and revenue per available room by 6.1%, while revenue per available room in the Northern Alps rose by 12.8% in June and July.<\/p>\n Regarding whether this is a lasting change or a reaction to an exceptional summer, the association said that \u201cwhile it’s still difficult to say for sure, the English Channel coast is experiencing its second consecutive summer of growth, and the Northern Alps their third\u201d, indicating a probable lasting shift. \u00a0<\/p>\n The extreme temperatures may also have changed what holidaymakers expect from their accommodation.<\/p>\n Laurent Barth\u00e9l\u00e9my, president of UMIH Saisonniers, which represents seasonal hospitality businesses, said one change he noticed and expects to last is the importance of air conditioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following this summer\u2019s extreme temperatures, he said the \u201cbiggest factor\u201d for holidaymakers when choosing accommodation was whether it had air conditioning, showing a growing demand for comfort in the face of increasingly hot summers.<\/p>\n However, the strong performance of cooler destinations did not mean a downturn everywhere else. Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur, for example, recorded the country\u2019s highest regional occupancy at 83.1% – and revenue per available room increased by 7.8%. The high occupancy remained stable even during the more challenging month of August.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paris also performed well. Hotel occupancy reached 90% in June and 84.6% in July, while the wider \u00cele-de-France region welcomed 13.3 million tourists between June and August, up 3% on 2025.<\/p>\n You can check how well each region performed in the map provided by Alliance France Tourisme here<\/a>. The map and data are only available in French.\u00a0<\/p>\n A difficult August<\/p>\n The picture became less positive at the start of August.<\/p>\n Between August 1 and 17, national hotel occupancy stood at 72.5%, down 0.7 points from a year earlier, while revenue per available room fell 1.5%.<\/p>\n