Is French holiday de rigueur again?

The global economic crisis hit French tourism hard. But this year the world's premier tourist destination hopes to bounce back to regain its je ne sais quoi.

Vive la France! The popular destination of St Tropez.

Generations of French holidaymakers have split into two essential camps, the Juilletistes and Aoutiens, reflecting a tendency to take breaks covering either the whole of July or the whole of August according to taste, tradition or nature of employment.

In recent times, even France's renowned appetite for leisure has been affected by the harsh economic realities and a more businesslike approach to work. Holidays have become shorter. But signs of another July/August divide are evident as officials cautiously predict a year of recovery for the tourism industry. As the high season nears its end, the early pointers suggest that a quiet, disappointing July in some keys areas has been followed by a much busier August.

Reviewing the summer so far Herve Novelli, the secretary of state whose portfolio includes tourism, said: "The year of 2010 should allow the industry to regain visitor levels equivalent to those of 2008, that is before the [world economic] crisis." It is good news for those in the holiday business, of course, but also good news for the state. France's reliance on a buoyant tourism sector is easy to understand. According to pre-crisis statistics, the country is the world's premier destination, with almost 82 million foreign visitors in 2007, substantially ahead of Spain (58 million) and the US (51 million).

Paris represents comfortably the biggest attraction, though people also head in large numbers to the Alps, the lush countryside of la France profonde and the beaches of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The French have insisted on taking holidays despite economic adversity. But, says Mr Novelli, confirming the anecdotal evidence of emptier restaurants, shops and bars, they are spending less. On the other hand, the relative strength of the dollar has brought back Americans, especially to Paris, where the owners of higher quality hotels - three stars or more - are in more optimistic mood than those of cheaper establishments.

One of the most popular destinations for holidaymakers, French and foreign, is the Var, with its superb beaches, well-known resorts including Saint Tropez, Frejus and Saint Raphael and its green, hilly interior. When the departement suffered severe flash flooding in early June, killing 25 people and causing widespread damage, there were fears that the dramatic television footage would prove the last straw for people already struggling to cope with the impact of recession.

The area around the inland town on Draguignan was worst affected, but the coast did not escape altogether. The impact was not as great as feared. The towns of Le Lavandou and Bormes-les-Momosas, favoured by successive presidents, did record a 5 per cent fall in visitors in July. This month, however, the trend has been reversed to the immense relief of caterers and others who rely on a strong peak period to see them through the leaner off-season months when businesses slow down or close.

"There hasn't been a bed to spare," Christophe Hagoplan, director of tourism for Le Lavandou, told the daily newspaper Var-Matin. "We cannot meet last minute requests for accommodation." A free beach concert by a popular French singer, Olivia Ruiz, attracted an estimated 40,000 people, ensuring a roaring trade for restaurateurs who had previously complained that people were keeping their money in their pockets.

To the west, in the Languedoc-Roussillon, a region with its seat of power in Montpellier and stretching from the western Pyrenees to a long section of the Mediterranean coast, tourism officials have found that the high season no longer starts on July 1 but in the middle of the month. Reduced business has been reported by 70 per cent of businesses providing holiday accommodation, with the French, British, German and Spanish notable by their absence. But there, too, hopes rest on business improving in August, and the signs are that it will to a significant extent.

Newly released figures show that even for July, the numbers of visits in the country as a whole was seen as encouraging by between 60 and 87 per cent of professionals. There were exceptions - the northern Atlantic coast, mountain areas and the south-east, the latter of particular importance because it includes the Riviera - but overall, the final figures will be at least stable for French holidaymakers and an improvement on last year, in most areas, for foreigners.

Mr Novelli's interim report on this year's trends tells a mixed story for the tourism sector for the whole of France. The number of holidaymakers is generally higher. But whereas constrained family budgets previously led people to make savings on entertainment and restaurants, this summer they are acting more prudently on choice of destination, duration of stay and transport. The French are travelling to less distant locations and settling for shorter stays.

But campsites are enjoying a boom. Most of the country's 8,000 sites are recording higher numbers than last year, when there was already 4 per cent growth, with all-inclusive deals and increased provision of upmarket facilities attracting a broader client base. "At a time of crisis, it is quite remarkable," said an official from one national body representing campsite owners. Earlier in the year, the fall-out from the Icelandic volcano cloud, which closed air space in April, was varied.

Visits for the full month - an important period of the year because of Easter and school holidays - showed a slight increase, generated in part by French families beating the disruption to aviation by taking breaks in their own country. Hotels noted a sharp fall in the number of Chinese clients but there was a healthy rise in bookings from the Middle East, Russia and South and Central America, taking account of the part of the month when flights were back to normal.

Business from Scandinavia fell by 3 per cent in April, having grown by 6 per cent in the preceding three months, while the recovery of the pound against the euro prompted the British to return in numbers after a steep decline the previous year. Amid the promising signs for the year taken as a whole, the industry remains realistic, aware of the speed at which circumstances can change. But in its latest bulletin, issued last week, the French tourism agency, Atout France and other bodies concerned with French tourism confirmed the impression of recovery, at its strongest in August, and jointly declared the outlook to be "rather satisfying".