MONTPELLIER (France) – More than 15.000 visitors and 700 exhibitors, for a sector that knows no crisis. These are the numbers of the Sett exhibition in Montpellier, which today inaugurated its 43rd edition: it is the most important trade fair event in Europe for the open-air tourism sector, especially in this moment of great expansion and optimism, as the representatives of the campsites we interviewed at the fair tell us.
«Sett, which has been organized for 43 years in Montpellier, is the first French exhibition in the open-air tourist hospitality sector», emphasizes Nicolas Dayot, president of the Fédération nationale de l’hôtellerie de plein air. «Each edition of Sett allows campsite owners to meet suppliers. This year, in particular, there is a great return of Italy in terms of visitors and exhibitors. The season was exceptional for campsites across Europe and France in particular. The French campsites are willing to invest a lot and for this reason I think that attendance in the Sett exhibition will be very good: there is ample scope for improving our offer in terms of services and equipment».
The numbers recorded this year by campsites throughout Europe and in particular in France are very important. In fact, Dayot remarks: «The 2022 tourist season, especially in summer, was excellent throughout Europe and especially for the south of the continent, namely for Spain, Italy and Croatia, which had lost many tourists due to the covid, since presences in these countries traditionally had an important share coming from abroad. The position of France, on the other hand, is a bit different: here we have a large majority of French campers, so French campsites have suffered much less from covid. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement for next season: we have passed 120 million admissions, making us the first country in Europe for outdoor tourism, but we are confident that we can do even better in 2023. A lot it will depend on the evolution of the economy, in view of the coming crisis and recession. These are currently unpredictable factors, but we are optimistic».
Philippe Robert, president of the Fédération de l’hôtellerie de plein air Languedoc-Roussillon, founder and organizer of the Sept, adds: «We need to make a little historical excursus. The year 2019 had been a record for our sector, then as is known, 2020 saw a 20% decline in tourism due to covid. Already in 2021 we managed to reach the same numbers as in 2019, but above all thanks to the greater number of French who remained in France, and who compensated for foreigners who had not yet returned. But in 2022, almost all of the French remained to take holidays in the interior of the country and at the same time the foreigners returned: this is why the season that has just ended was a record. It will be difficult to record the same figures in the years to come, because certainly a part of the French will start to go abroad again, but the current trend is still an excellent trend that has greatly helped our structures. The covid has helped many French people to rediscover their territory through outdoor holidays, and certainly many of these will continue to spend their holidays without going abroad».
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