the language travel market | France

1.1 Market definition and presentation

The language holidays are stays of varying length by young people and adults in a foreign country, in order to to learn or improve their learning of the language of the country .

This market is developing in an era of globalisation and the need today to speak several languages, particularly in the professional world. Thus, language trips represent a fun alternative to this learning, whether they are carried out in total immersion in a family, in a language school, in immersion in a foreign school, between one week and one year, or in the context of a summer camp punctuated by daily language classes

And indeed, this market is very fragmented, because of all the travel alternatives that exist, but it is also a very promising market. It is estimated to be worth several billion euros with approximately 3 million bookings each year

Among the major players in the market are traditionally language travel agencies s, of the associations and specialized agencies owners of their own language schools.

In recent years, the offers and proposed formulas are evolving, as well as the audiences involved. The offer has expanded to include more countries, even though command of English remains the primary motivation for this type of stay.

The coronavirus crisis in 2020 has had a strong impact on this market which, with travel restrictions, falls by around 80% compared to 2019. Nevertheless, during this economically catastrophic year, many French people have registered on online platforms and applications to learn languages. This shows a growing interest in language learning, especially English, making the language travel market all the more promising in the aftermath of the crisis