We live in Luxembourg but have a holiday home near to Sainte Maxime (83)
We have normally spent most of July and August for nearly 30 years here.
We spend plenty of time at the beach, as it is close, which also has a number of private beaches with restaurants attached.
We often play the game of “not many or there are a lot of Belgium’s/Germans/Austrians/Dutch/Danish/Swedish/British/Italian cars here this year”
Or “there are a lot of empty beds on the private beaches this year”
This year after three weeks it is clear (note this is the big weekend so it could change) there are very few British cars here in comparison to recent years.
It is also clear that the private beaches are only half full.
Is this currency, Brexit or perhaps Yellow vests or even less French spending money.
My wife and I have just had the same conversation, we went out on Thursday to a popular tourist destination at the coast and the place was empty which in August is unheard of, less Brits definitely but also less French.
I’m sure the extreme heat we (my area) have suffered has meant less people out and about. Holidaymakers are in the pools or lurking in air-conditioned areas.
Fewer foreign tourists? Perhaps, but it depends where you are and where you expect them to be from, both here and in SW Germany I have heard lots of Spanish Dutch Italian and even English spoken. It is possible the English-speakers here in France aren’t tourists.
We were with french friends at lunch who remarked that there are many more Belgians here than normal. We are usually busy with Dutch and German tourists as well, but the Belgians seem to have taken over a bit this year. However it is pretty normally busy. Which probably means quiet in SW france terms!
And yes, summer ends on the 15th August… we know as the last two weeks in August are never, ever booked by French families. We have loads of enquiries for first 2 weeks in Aug, which go very quickly so we then say to people that we have availability after. The French families always say an emphatic no!
We have had mainly English but also Dutch, we are in Burgundy.
The family are coming for the last two weeks in August.
We had an unexpected week booked and a local booking for six days at the end of September.
We have a noisy family here at the moment, they even had a radio going down by the pool to listen to the cricket!
Everyone else appreciated that we are in the country and not Benidorm.
Already beginning to feel autumnal - conkers falling from our horse chestnut, the ridiculously high temperature in our pool is a thing of the past, we’ve already had the first of our early morning mists and even with the rain most of the borders are looking stubbonly parched and gone over. Thank heavens for geraniums and begonias in the pots. Our next (English) guests arrive for two weeks this Saturday and I worry the garden is all looking a bit seedy!