2023 will not go down in history for Lyon hotel owners. The summer has not been good in terms of reservations. In July and August, attendance rates fell sharply compared to 2022: – 5 to 10% in July and – 15 to 20% in August. In this context, the Rugby World Cupwhich starts Friday at the Stade de France, and the presence of the New Zealand team, which has set up its base camp in the capital of Gaul, should make it possible to bail out the coffers of the Lyon establishments.
However, for the moment, it is rather disappointment that predominates. Many hotels are not full, while Lyon and its large Décines stadium still host five rugby matches, starting with Wales – Australia on September 24. “It’s mixed. We hoped to be complete for the duration of the World Cup. We were counting on it to fill the treasuries which are stretched and to restore balm to the hearts of many of us, before facing the winter and the rise in energy prices”, confides Thierry Fontaine, president of the Union hospitality trades and industries (Umih) Rhône.
A filling rate of only 60-70%
Unfortunately, that will not be the case. In Lyon, only three matches have so far achieved a 100% occupancy rate in hotels, on September 24 and 29, as well as on October 6, the France-Italy match. “Over the duration of the Rugby World Cup, the occupancy rate is around 60 to 70%”, specifies the Lyon boss of Umih.
He explains these poor figures by an unfavorable context in the capital of the Gauls currently: “ The decline in purchasing power and the riots played with foreign customers, that’s for sure. The heat wave phenomenon in August was the cleaver. Fatalist, Thierry Fontaine “knows that a drop in the summer can never be recovered. If we are not complete on an event like the Rugby World Cup, what should we do? »