“Since the sanitary pass has happened, it’s a disaster: it costs us a lot of visitors: instead of 3,000 to 4,000 a day, we only welcome half of them. “ Mathys Bembom, owner of the OK Corral amusement park, which has 34 attractions, 8 daily horse shows and employs up to 200 employees in Cuges-les-Pins, east of Marseille, is angry.
“We don’t understand: we can go in and out of a hypermarket as we want, and we are punished”, he laments. “Vaccination is the only way out of this crisis, but the government should have informed us long before. There it is very hard, there are a lot of costs ”, continues Mathys Bembom, who took over the family business more than 40 years ago.
“Between July 21 and 25, we recorded a drop of -77% in visitors and -55% in turnover”, indicates Erven Gicquel, co-director of the Tropical park, in Saint-Jacut-les-Pins (Morbihan). Same observation in the leisure parks of Vendée.
The little ones suffer more than the big ones
According to Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State in charge of Tourism, if ” The biggest “ sector players “Get away with -10 or -15%” drop in attendance in recent days, “The little ones are more on -20 to -50 or -60%”.
“Not everything is attributable to the health pass”, however, he qualified, at the end of an interministerial tourism committee (CIT) in Yonne on Tuesday, “The rainy days we experienced were able to play, for outdoor activities”.
“The smaller the companies, the more they suffer, because this is where the decision to visit is more impulsive”, observes for his part Arnaud Bennet, president of Snelac (National Union of leisure, attractions and cultural spaces). “We make up our minds in the morning and the need to have an updated pass or to take a test means that people don’t come downright, or downright less”.
In a very heterogeneous sector which in France has some 2,600 leisure sites – giants like Disneyland Paris but also a number of small amusement parks, animal parks, aqualands, caves, museums, castles … – 90% of these businesses, often family-owned , have less than 10 employees and make 5 to 30 million euros in turnover, according to Snelac.
“Catastrophic season”
After having surveyed about fifteen of its 500 members, Arnaud Bennet estimates that the entry into force of the health pass on July 21 caused a drop in attendance ranging from “From -15% to -50% and sometimes -70%”.
In his eyes, the pass was not necessary for these “Outdoor sites whose very strict protocols have demonstrated their effectiveness in 2020” and he will make a “Season which promised to be good, a catastrophic season”.
These companies are emerging from the Covid-19 crisis “Weakened and over-indebted, without the capacity to invest”, he says, after having lost half of their turnover on average in 2020. They have remained afloat thanks to state aid – partial activity, solidarity fund, PGE-, but these must be ‘stop at the end of August.
Or “What makes the dynamism of the sector is its ability to permanently invest 10 to 30% of turnover to create novelty and retain customers”, says Arnaud Bennet. And it is the summer income that ensures “During the closure, which often lasts six months, salaries, maintenance, work …”
Extended aid?
The Federation of Showmen of France pointed out on Tuesday a “Unfair treatment” Come in “Markets, pedestrian streets and shopping centers […] which are not subject to the health pass “, and its companies which “Had just returned to their work”.
Faced with this concern, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne wanted to be reassuring: “It is clear that today we are facing a 4th wave: who says 4th wave says economic consequences, who says economic consequences says devices (aid) to be adjusted, worked or extended, during a job which will start under the aegis of Matignon ”, he said.
Asked about RTL, Wednesday July 28, 2021, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire assured that the government will respond ” here “ to help companies whose activity will be penalized by the health pass. A point is scheduled at Bercy on August 30.
The Compagnie des Alpes (Parc Astérix, Futuroscope) has indicated that it cannot yet assess the impact of the health pass, especially since “The climatic effect (gloomy weather) is not negligible”, according to a spokesperson.
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