Travel Industry Trends and France Travel Changes
A new Europe travel requirement rolls out soon! Read about this change and other travel trends for 2024. Keep reading or jump to later in the post to read more about the new travel authorization for European travel, including France.
Following Covid, the travel industry made an impressive bounce-back. If you’ve traveled lately, you might think everyone in the world is on a trip. The crowds are impressive as well. Hope this will help you prepare for a great trip!
Some Travel Industry Trends
- Travel is expected to recover this year 95% over Covid levels. Travel as an industry is growing by almost 4.5 % annually.
- Solo travel is increasing, especially among millennials. Tour companies, blogs, and other travel-related businesses are including this growing segment in marketing and amenities. Many solo travelers join small group and/or adventure tours.
- With the explosion of remote work, many people combine overseas or other travel experiences with their online work or extend business trips. The term “digital nomad” is a part of our vocabulary now.
- Some trends are gaining popularity. Trends like sustainable travel (hotels and resorts focusing on sustainable amenities) and temporary local (to quote Rick Steves), where you base in one place and get to know it like a resident. I have a version of this coming up this summer.
Airlines
Airlines have many changes from previous years, and generally, they are not favorable to travelers.
- Higher costs overall, plus itemized costs for things that used to be included, such as seats and checked bags on overseas flights. The need to pay
Bordeaux
for all bags is a huge money-maker for airlines. Travelers have responded by only using a carry-on. The problem there is that the overhead compartments are jammed and those who do pay for checked bags have nowhere to put their carry-ons. More often than in the past, airlines will realize they have too many carry-ons and offer to check bags for free. I think the high checked baggage fees have turned around to bite them!
- Higher point costs for points travel, causing you to spend more points on your trip.
- Cancellations of flights. This is very common, but you should hope that your cancellation comes early enough for you to regroup. In my experience, you can easily work out a new itinerary on the phone with an agent, if this happens to you.
France in Particular
During Covid, France experienced a 66% tourism loss, a devastating figure. But by all appearances, they’ve more than recovered. And this summer, they’ll welcome travelers for the summer Olympic Games.
All Covid entry requirements have been removed. No worries about testing or vaccine proof. No masks are required either, though it might be good to have one on hand for an extremely crowded metro, or if you have a sensitive immune system.
The big news is starting in 2025, a new travel authorization will be required to visit most European countries, called the ETIAS, or Europe Travel Information and Authorization System. It consists of online registration (cost is 7€), so is rather simple. But you don’t want to avoid doing this if you’re traveling. The authorization is valid for 3 years. Read more. (There are 3 links from official E.U. websites in the following paragraphs where you can get additional information.) Official European websites say this will be in effect in mid-2025. Other sites say it begins in 2024. If you’re traveling in 2024, double-check before you go.
Here’s the lowdown on the new requirement. You’ll need to register online to enter Schengen European countries, plus a few others (30 in all). Here is a LIST of the countries that require it and the travelers’ countries as well. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/who-should-apply_en#ETIAS-countries Sometimes the authorization takes minutes to receive, sometimes longer, so you should do it in advance if you’re traveling this year. The authorization is valid for 3 years, or until the end of your passport validity, whichever comes first. At the time of this writing, the application website is not yet active.
The purpose of this registration is to increase security in these countries. It is not a visa and doesn’t change your ability to stay in European countries for up to 90 days without a visa. Here is the only official website to learn more and to register (at this moment, info only. Registration is not open) travel-europe.europa.eu/etias
Here is a FAQ website where you can learn more https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/faqs-etias_en
Lyon, France
I hope this information will help you prepare for your current or future trip and have a great one! Oliver’s France is here for you with ideas, travel guides, and tips for great France travel.
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