dossier sur le tourisme et le développement durable

20
The tourist offer
In 2001 the number of overnight stays in hotels and similar establishments (H&S) by domestic
tourists in the Mediterranean region was 386 million compared to 464 million overnight stays by
international tourists, i.e. 45.4% of the total number of overnight stays (H&S) (Figure 9).
Figure 9 : Evolution of international and domestic overnight stays in hotels and similar establishments in the Mediterranean
from 1980-2001
Source: WTO
Millions
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
International overnight stays Domestic overnight stays
The proportion of domestic tourists is high (Figure 10) in both the richer countries (France,
Spain, Italy, Israel) and in the destinations that are not very attractive for international tourists
(Algeria, Serbia-Montenegro, etc.).
Figure 10 : Overnight stays by domestic tourists in hotels and similar establishments H&S (thousands) and the proportion of
the total H&S overnight stays in 2002
* Albania and Greece: 2001 data
Source: WTO 2004
Hotel stays demonstrate the importance of commercial accommodation. Yet informal
accommodation should not be neglected especially concerning national tourists. In France, for
instance, non-commercial accommodation made up 62.8% of the stays in 2000 (52.2% for
accommodation with friends and relatives, and 10.6% for holiday homes). Besides this, the
gross figures for hotel stays could hide great inequality in access to commercial tourism: indeed
a minority of tourists can afford several hotel stays per year, while the minority of the population
does not travel.