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Summary of our market study
The French sustainable tourism market is estimated at between 900 million and 1 billion euros, and is expected to grow by 20% a year.
The sustainable tourism market is estimated at 340.4 billion euros.
France attracts some 50 million international tourists every year.
French travelers are increasingly turning to sustainable practices. Approximately half of the French population, i.e. between 30 and 35 million people, are sensitive to sustainable tourism
Some 24% of French tourists say that the lack of information and visibility of sustainable tourism offers limits their ability to opt for greener travel.
The French government and numerous non-profit organizations are championing sustainable tourism.
Ecotourism players
Specialized travel agencies
- Voyageurs du Monde
- Akaoka and Atalante focus on adventure and exploration
- Culturescontact and Men and mountains take a holistic approach to sustainable tourism
- Chamina voyages pioneers slow travel
- Saiga and Vision du monde focus on encounters with local communities
Emerging tour operators with a vision
- Amatera and Double Sens - Voyage et Partage design trips that benefit local economies.
- Grand Angle offers nature excursions that celebrate biodiversity.
- Les ateliers du voyage and Les Maisons du Voyage respect local heritage and practices.
- Voyages d'exception selects unique destinations and experiences
Associations at the forefront of the sustainable movement
- Sustainable tourism players
- Acting for Responsible Tourism (ATR)
- World Council for Sustainable Tourism
- Association for Fair Tourism (ATES)
to understand this market
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Market definition and scope
With 2 billion international tourists expected by 2030, the Association des Acteurs du Tourisme Durable (ATD) warns of the many changes needed for tomorrow's tourism:"the tourism industry will not be sustainable without a definite evolution in all professions".
Strictly speaking, sustainable tourism refers to "tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, by meeting the needs of visitors, professionals, the environment and host communities". But sustainable tourism also involves the individual responsibility of travellers in the behaviours they adopt and the choices they make. More generally, sustainable tourism is a generic term that encompasses other concepts referring to sustainable development: ecotourism, responsible tourism, slow tourism, ethical tourism, solidarity tourism and community tourism.
Sustainable tourism covers many types of tourist accommodation, such as :
- tourist hotels
- camping
- residential leisure parks
- tourist residences
- vacation village
- collective inns
But it also concerns the tourist activities on offer, such as hiking and cycling.
Finally, sustainable tourism also concerns travel agencies, tour operators and the means of transport used during the trip. The players involved are many and varied.
The tourism industry has recorded a total of 58 billion euros in revenues in 2022, a record in France. In 2021, around two-thirds of French people will take "sustainable tourism criteria into account when choosing their vacations". Beyond the necessary evolution of tourism towards sustainability, tourists also seem ready to make this transition, which augurs well for the future development of sustainable tourism. More than a constraint, sustainable tourism is an opportunity, a way for players in the tourism sector to stand out from the crowd and satisfy a relatively recent and booming demand.
1.2 The global market
In ****, the global sustainable tourism market was worth ***.* billion USD. The exchange rate at the time was *.****[***], or around ***.* billion euros when converted at the current exchange rate (***).
As explained above, tourism in general is bound to evolve towards a model that respects the three dimensions of sustainable development. The sustainable ...
1.3 The French market: a relatively new market with great potential
According to a barometer published by Flower Campings & MadeInVote in ****, **% of French people say they take the sustainable dimension of their vacations into account. In ****, the tourism market (***) was worth **.* billion euros, or *% of France's GDP[***].
Estimates suggest that sustainable tourism represented *% of the tourism market in **** [***]. The size of the ...
1.4 The threat of overtourism
With its rich historical, cultural and natural heritage, France will be the world's leading tourist destination in ****.
Ranking of countries receiving the most international tourists World, ****, in millions Source: ****
far ahead of its competitors, France welcomed ** million international tourists in ****. Given the small size of France (***), this high level of tourism ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Early awareness of the need for sustainable tourism
For the past ten years or so, the French seem to have been aware of their responsibility towards the environment and local populations during their travels.
Responses to the question "Are you very, rather, rather not or not at all attentive, when you go on a trip, to respecting the environment ...
2.2 Demand limited by higher overall costs and limited supply
At present, the generalized model is classic tourism, i.e. tourism with little regard for sustainable development issues, and it can be more expensive to opt for sustainable tourism. Price is therefore an obstacle for many tourists. For example, **% of travelers think that more sustainable travel options are too expensive, a ...
2.3 Demand focused on preserving the environment
Although sustainable tourism is not exclusively about preserving the environment, it is the primary interest that the French see in it:
Answers to the question: "For you, sustainable vacations are a way of:" France, ****, in % Source: ****
The environmental pillar is therefore the most important for respondents when it comes to sustainable ...
2.4 Characteristics of demand for sustainable tourism
It is possible to distinguish profiles that are more sensitive to sustainable tourism than others. First of all, in ****, **% of French people were sensitive to sustainable tourism, i.e. **.* million people. The main characteristics of this category are as follows:
**% live in households without children ; **% are over **, which seems paradoxical ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Multiple, protean players: tourism industry organizations
Sustainable tourism is a market driven by many different players, as mentioned in the introduction. These include travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, campsites, etc . The main players , however, remain travel agencies and tour operators, which we present as follows:
Travel agencies
Many travel agencies have embraced the principle of sustainable tourism, ...
3.2 Associations and the public sector
The associations
Numerous associations are committed to making the transition from the current tourism model to sustainable tourism. Among the most important are
Acteurs du Tourisme Durable Agir pour un Tourisme Responsable Global Sustainable Tourism Council Association pour le Tourisme Equitable et Solidaire (***)
These are the most generalist associations, aiming to ...
3.3 Sustainable tourism value chain
Finally, there are investors , whose decisions naturally influence the dynamics of all markets, local players such as town halls and tourist offices, and of course tourists. The following diagram illustrates the relationships between the players in this market:
The arrows describe the influence and commercial relationships between the various players. Their ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Sustainable tourism typology
Climate Consulting by Selectra] distinguishes four forms of sustainable tourism:
responsible tourism, "minimizing the impact of travel on the environment and local culture"; and ethical tourism, which "includes a range of tourism activities based on fair trade principles"; slow tourism, "taking the time to discover travel destinations at your own pace, ...
4.2 Modalities of the sustainable tourism offer
As the players in sustainable tourism are many and varied, so are the services they offer. Indeed, tourism is an industry encompassing many fields. The same applies to sustainable tourism. To begin with, it is possible to distinguish the concrete practices and gestures proposed within the framework of sustainable tourism [***]:
having ...
4.3 Examples of travel packages
The following table lists sustainable travel offers and their prices, to give you an idea of the budget involved:
Inflation is not sparing the tourism sector in general. The travel sector is said to have seen a **% rise in prices since ****. Another trend in the tourism market concerns the duration of ...
5 Regulations
5.1 General regulations
There is a World Charter for Sustainable Tourism. This was created at the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Lanzarote (***), drawn up in **** by the European Federation of Protected Areas. The latter has three objectives:
To increase interest in and support for protected areas as a fundamental part of our heritage, ...
5.2 Labels
In order to guarantee the commitments of the various players involved, associations are setting up labels. These also serve to guide tourists as they plan their vacations.
One such label is ATR (***). It is based on three pillars: transparency, partnership and consistency, broken down into ** criteria. It is aimed at all ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
- Voyageurs du Monde Groupe
- ATR (Agir pour un Tourisme Responsable)
- ATES (Association pour le Tourisme Equitable et Solidaire)
- Chamina Voyages
- Double Sens
- Atalante
- Grand Angle
- L'Arbre à voyages
- Evaneos
List of charts presented in this market study
- Trends in the size of the global sustainable tourism market
- International tourism receipts: percentage of 2019 levels recovered in the first quarter of 2023
- Change in the proportion of travelers intending to stay in sustainable accommodation at least once in the coming year
- Growth in the size of the sustainable tourism market (prospective)
- Answers to the question "Are you very, rather, rather not or not at all careful, when you go on a trip, to respect the environment and the lives of local people?"
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Latest news
Voyageurs du Monde takes on Europe's cycle routes - 25/06/2024
- - Total sales of the group amounted to over 693 million euros in 2023, up 39.5%
- - The group employs 1,800 people.
- - Purchase of Eurofun, an Austrian company specializing in bicycle travel, with sales of 100 million euros.
- - Randovélo, another group entity based in Blois, has sales of 5 million euros.
- - Cycle tourism accounts for 37% of the group's customers and 17% of its sales.
- - A week's bike touring is priced at between 1,000 and 1,200 euros per person.
Travel: Evaneos hopes to become the hub of sustainable tourism - 12/10/2023
- Evaneos was founded in 2009.
- The company connects its customers with 600 partner agencies.
- Evaneos charges a commission of just under 15% on sales.
- By 2023, the company expects to have recorded sales in excess of 200 million euros.
- Since 2019, travel to Mozambique has doubled, as have the Baltic countries and Nicaragua.
- Evaneos is already present outside France in Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, and plans to accelerate its development in these markets.
Voyageurs du Monde: strong recovery in 2022, continuing into 2023 - 19/04/2023
- Sales in 2022: 497.3 million euros
- Sales growth in 2022 compared with 2019: 2%
- International sales in 2022: 32% of total sales
- Net income in 2022: 29.9 million euros
- Loss in 2021: 0.3 million euros
- Profit in 2019: 20.3 million euros
Lionel Habasque gets Terres d'Aventure up and running - 27/03/2023
- With fifteen brands - including Terres d'Aventure, Comptoir des Voyages, Nomade Aventure and Allibert Trekking - the group employs 1,500 people, with sales of 430 million euros in 2022
- - 487 million euros in sales before the pandemic
- - Terre d'Aventure - 24% growth rate - 160 employees
Voyageurs du Monde to return to profitability in 2022 - 19/04/2022
- Voyageurs du Monde Group sales in 2022: €497.3 million.
- Sales up 2% on 2019.
- Group net income in 2019: €20.3 million.
- Net income in 2021: -0.3 million euros.
- Eurofun Group sales in 2019: €80 million.
- Extraordinary Journeys sales: $13 million.
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The sustainable tourism market | France
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