Abstract:

The recent slowdown in the progression of the French vacation market prompts the hypothesis that a certain saturation point may have been reached. This hypothesis, of course, is not merely based on the evolution of a single short-term global index. It is also prompted by a configuration of related phenomena. The existence of such a saturated market is difficult to deny, even though present data are largely incomplete and lack sufficient chronological concordance in most instances. The first part of this analysis will focus on fulfilled market demands, as demonstrated by vacation statistics. However, beyond the relative stability of vacation behaviour, account should be taken of the persistence of attitudes, especially among those non-vacationing French people. This approach offers the possibility to elucidate the concept of a saturated market, and to determine its merits as a means of analysing a particularly complex and dynamic phenomenon.