Bonjour Magazine - Living the French Experience

Ferry prices and the cost of travel to France are doing nothing to help the depressed markets. Owners providing accommodation at the smaller, cheaper end of the market are likely to be hardest hit as travel costs surpass the cost of renting many properties, making the package look financially unattractive. Blame was initially laid at the feet of the European commission in Brussels for the loss of revenue from duty free sales but costs have continued to spiral since then. These companies know they will lose a certain number of passengers, maybe as many as 3-4% of those taking short breaks and holidays but this will be more than compensated by the
increase in revenue. Day-trippers, knowing the savings that can be made by buying their alcohol and cigarettes in France will not decline significantly. The bottom line is profit and all these companies are driven by their shareholders. Short-term solutions always cause long term and bigger problems. Once lost, clients are more difficult to attract back, especially if they find other destinations that they can enjoy. Rising motoring costs also add to the equation along with poor weather which was responsible for thousands of French tourists deserting France this year for the warmer climes of the Spanish Costa's. Smaller parties will definitely find it more attractive to fly into Toulouse, Carcassonne and the other more southerly airports. People do not use the ferries or the tunnel because they want to, but because they cannot circumnavigate them. They are a necessity only if people have the desire to visit France in the first place and they may well be the cause of them not coming next year.

To compound this problem, interest rates are at an all time low in the UK, bringing a weaker pound and confidence in the UK economy is floundering. This does nothing to help see a return of the mid-season visitor who is dependent on the returns on his savings to supplement his income. This is not the time to be complacent as a weak pound creates problems to those seeking a decent exchange rate and a downturn could just as easily be around the corner. Just to throw another spanner in the works, Tony Blair, bless him, is planning on shortening the summer school holidays. They will be staggered over a period, depending on county or area, with five terms with two week breaks. This could work in our favour but until we are fully aware
of the details it is hard to say. The brochures generally do a good job. Let's hope they have some innovative marketing strategies and are not dependent on the same boring let's stick an advertisement in the Sunday papers and hope for the best. It's a tried and trusted formula but will it make people think about coming to France? "Ah, but I'm advertising on the Internet and that gives me access to the world." I hear you say. I'm afraid it does't; it gives you access to people who either know the address of the web site or stumble across it whilst trying to find accommodation. The Internet is only an electronic magazine with billions of pages. This is why you see Internet companies advertising their web addresses on the television. I've heard of companies providing Internet advertising for as little as £20.00. Sounds like a bargain until you ask yourself where the revenue is going to be generated from to promote the site? If the Internet site is only being advertised in the UK the bulk of people visiting it are likely to be British and that market is flagging badly.

The fact that you are reading this gives you a distinct advantage over 92% of the people letting holiday accommodation in France. You speak English, as do Americans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Germans, Irish, most Europeans and the rest of the world who have had a decent level of education. How many of these nationalities stayed in your property this year? These are all markets that need developing by being given access to the information required in
order to find you. So, if you are advertising on the Internet, is the site being advertised globally? It would not be economic for you to mount a global advertising strategy so make sure that the brochure or Internet advertising company to whom you have entrusted your marketing has the esources and understands what is required of them. The only way to guarantee increasing demand is to widen our market. (Click here) The way to do that is to increase awareness of the benefits to a wider audience and so increase desire. If the cost of travel continues to rise, remember that there are 330 million people living in Europe who don't have to cross the channel. The Dutch and Germans are visiting in even greater numbers as are Scandinavians but how often do you see an Italian or Spanish number plate? Language barriers and lack of access to information are the main cause but I believe these countries have enormous potential for development.

With fares so high, it is even more important to get your marketing right. People have to be given good reasons to visit France and client loyalty is going to play an even more significant role in who retains and increases their market share. Service, access to information and costs are more important today than they have ever been and quality and security for the consumer is going to be the predominant factor when it comes to choosing a property.

The European direct letting market comprises of hundreds of thousands of individuals and small businesses that provide holidays to millions of people every year. A multi-million pound business that unlike agencies, tour operators and travel agents does not currently have any specific controlling EU directives. Most countries in Europe have the equivalent of ABTA and ATOL regulating their sector of the tourist industry. Subsequently, most EU directives are based on what these associations have already put in place. However, the direct letting market does not benefit from these umbrellas. With the number of complaints rising regarding poor accommodation, misrepresentation, double bookings with people arriving to find the house they have booked unavailable and in a number of cases this year, people turning up to find that the property in fact did not exist. Scams like the latter are rising, with con men placing advertisements for properties and even producing brochures. They then sell the same weeks repeatedly only to disappear a fortnight before the first guests arrive. This is an industry that depends enormously on trust and fraud like this taints everyone. What other product is sold on the basis of parting with thousands of pounds based on a couple of photographs and a description. Direct letting is the last area of tourism that has no specific legislation, but a recent EU working party suggests that this is about to change. When it does, the consequences could be disastrous to many property owners; unless the industry as a whole
puts its house in order. By the time the EU commissioners have put together a common legislative policy that will cover every aspect and eventuality with regards to building standards, consumer rights and industry practices throughout Europe we will have regulations that will be unworkable for many property owners. Greece has building regulations because of earthquakes, UK laws insist on fire retardant furniture, French laws are being introduced regarding enclosed and single depth swimming pools and Italy insists on electrical sockets being
set more than 1m30 high. No doubt the Spanish who appear to have few sensible regulations, not to be left, out will insist on all houses being equipped with a paella dish and some bulls ears nailed to the door. Worse still would be the introduction of price controls, like Gites de France and the CAA. Whilst we have to recognise that some laws will be necessary, it will be in everyone's interest to be self-regulating rather than legislated by central government. Sadly, we all get tarred with the same brush and with more watchdog programmes and journalists targeting our industry we make a very soft target.