More French stay home for summer hols
Contrary to the widely-held belief that the French depart en masse in August for the country’s beaches, a study has revealed that 38 percent do not go away on holiday.
The report, by polling company CAS (Centre d’analyse stratégique), found that the French are less likely to go on holiday than several other European nations.
The study defined a holiday as a trip away from home for at least four consecutive nights.
Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, the UK and Sweden all had higher rates of taking holidays, with France’s score of 62 percent just ahead of the European Union average of 56 percent. Portugal was at the bottom of the table with fewer than half of its inhabitants taking vacation trips.
The study reported that the rate has increased considerably over 40 years. In 1964, just 43 percent of the French departed on holiday, but this figure has stalled over the last ten years.
The biggest reason for not going on holiday was financial considerations (50 percent), followed by health or family reasons (34 percent), deliberate choice (29 percent) or social isolation (24 percent).
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