"A direct threat to French tourism": the president of Var Tourisme's outburst against Bayrou's proposal

With 83 million overnight stays in 2024, the Var is France's leading tourist department, far ahead of Paris and the Île-de-France region. Prime Minister François Bayrou's proposal to remove two public holidays from the calendar to boost national productivity was therefore met with sympathetic attention yesterday.

" This measure is not only unjustified and counterproductive, but it also directly threatens the balance of an entire sector: tourism ," fumes Guillaume Decard, president of Var Tourisme, the department's tourism development agency.

" These two highly symbolic public holidays, Easter Monday and May 8, are located at the start of the season and remain essential, both in terms of memory, heritage and economy ," analyzes the elected official. He specifies: " They offer French people opportunities for short stays, stimulate bookings and support the economic activity of thousands of businesses in the sector: hotels, restaurants, tourist sites, transport, local businesses, etc.

One in five jobs linked to tourism in the Var

" These are decisive days to kick off the season. Canceling them means depriving professionals of crucial income, in a period already marked by inflation and climate uncertainty ," warns Guillaume Decard. He points out that tourism weighs heavily on the French economy, particularly in regions like the Var, where it accounts for one in five direct jobs.

The president of Var Tourisme calls on the government to show responsibility and " not to sacrifice a strategic sector on the altar of a purely accounting vision of work ." " This decision, if it were to materialize, would be an economic and social nonsense ," he concludes.