The Grand Est, first destination for the 2022 Christmas school vacations

The end of the year was rather good in terms of tourist traffic: for the 2 weeks of the Christmas school vacations in 2022, the occupancy rate of hotels has increased to 62%, up 13% of reservations compared to 2021! The big winners are Alsace and Vosges with the cities of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse in the lead.

In addition, after 2 years marked by the crisis, Strasbourg recorded a record attendance for its Christmas market with 2.8 million visitors.

Over the period, hotels have thus posted 90% occupancy and restaurants a good attendance, both during the week and on weekends.

Strasbourg's cultural structures also benefited from the event and recorded an increase in the number of entries compared to 2021:
            + 22% for the Cathédrale platform,
            + 8% for the visits of the Tourist Office,
            + 10% for the museums.

An increase that can also be explained by the SurréAlice exhibition at the Musée déArt Moderne et Contemporain and Tomi Ungerer. The city, by the way, has a "historic" edition.

Commencing on Nov. 25, the 2022 edition of Strasbourg's Christmas Market ended on Dec. 24, a week earlier than usual. This early closure was mainly due to the city's desire to reduce energy consumption. Indeed, in a tense economic and energy context, the city hall headed by Ms. Jeanne Barseghian has taken, this year, important measures of sobriety.

Many of its new features are expected to be renewed or expanded in the coming years, such as:

• the bio-waste collection exp&eacute at the Cathedral and Brogli Square food stands,
• the use ofcups made from bio-based materials,
• the implementation of friendly zones;

These measures did not prevent a record number of visitors from strolling the streets of Strasbourg and the 313 cottages installed for the occasion. 

The city will thus continue to work on changes to the Christmas market, to move toward even more sobriety.

We'll have to add up the "reliable data" over a few years to know if this model is "workable"!

[Sources: Observatoire Régional du Tourisme Grand Est, BFM TV ALsace, France 3]

More details on the site: https://www.art-grandest.fr/services-et-accompagnement/orienter-vos-decisions/les-publications-de-l-observatoire/le-bilan-de-l-activite-touristique-des-vacances-scolaires-de-noel-2022