As the COVID19 situation in France has worsened, the country’s daily hotel occupancy plummeted to as low as 3.3 per cent on March 17, according to preliminary data from STR and In Extenso TCH. Daily occupancy in the country was as high as 65.3 per cent on February 26 and had been positioned above 30 per cent through March 12.
However, a sharp downward trend began as the number of confirmed COVID19 cases grew and the government implemented measures to combat the spread. STR’s most recent data for March 17 showed that just three of 100 rooms on average were occupied in the country. At the market-level, Paris reached a daily occupancy peak of 84 per cent on January 17, during the start of Haute Couture Fashion Week.
The market’s daily occupancy remained above 50 per cent as late as March 3, however, downward movement began on March 1, and absolute occupancy fell 97.2 per cent year-on-year to 1.8 per cent on March 17 amid the closure of the European Union borders to most non-EU citizens.
