France has a natural tendency towards romanticism, which is often a strength but can sometimes become a weakness. It is the world’s leading tourist destination, with a hotel and tourism ecosystem that has never been as structured, inventive or powerful as it is today… and yet. And yet we like to make things more difficult, procedures more complex and decisions more opaque.
Let’s be clear: the head is working. Investors are there, real estate companies are solid and operators are performing well. The private sector is building up its muscle. But the neck, which guides the head with its movements, hesitates, trembles or looks away. The public authorities, for their part, continue to navigate by sight, poorly defining the course, setting overly vague objectives and leaving the market to move forward by default.
Meanwhile, our Spanish and Italian neighbours are capturing European funding to transform their offering, reposition their attractiveness and accelerate their climb to the top. While we contribute generously to these resources, we struggle to channel them into our economic fabric. As a result, our SMEs, the artisans of French uniqueness and the guardians of authenticity and local traditions, are moving forward with millstones around their necks.
It is hardly surprising that our few national champions are increasingly investing in our neighbours. This is good news in itself, in terms of capturing value creation where it is generated, but it is also a warning sign of our declining attractiveness in terms of investment.
However, the situation is too serious to afford the luxury of inaction. Public debt, as solemnly reiterated by the (former) Prime Minister, is not an abstract concept. It hinders our ability to invest where and when we need to. Every euro misallocated is a euro that does not go towards a renovated hotel, modernised infrastructure or a redesigned customer journey.
What applies to the state also applies to industry. An investment project has a time frame. An opportunity that exists today may evaporate tomorrow. Findings, analyses and strategies have a limited lifespan. Failure to synchronise public decisions with private initiatives condemns our ecosystem to running out of step.
It is time to live up to what we proclaim at every opportunity: our position as the world’s leading destination.
So let’s live up to it! Not by multiplying slogans, but by creating a genuine collective reflex, a pact of clarity between public authorities and private actors.
A pact that recognises that the State is there to maintain our exceptional tourism heritage — this unique blend of coastline, mountains, rural areas, heritage and wine tourism — and to set the course. A pact that acknowledges that the private sector must be the driving force, ready to move quickly, take risks and perform.
This summer has already taught us one lesson: domestic consumption is suffering from trade-offs, whether in the leisure or business segment, while our international visitors remain the driving force behind a hotel industry that is more focused on experience, not to say high-end and luxury.
Without a sudden surge, we will continue to add to our debts and subtract from our opportunities.
History has already taught us this: ‘A country that cannot balance its finances is abandoning itself,’ said Mendès-France. I would add: a country that cannot balance its public-private contract is giving up on transforming its assets into wealth.
France has a head. It has muscles. What it lacks is a firm and determined neck.
