General points

Sixty percent of the French go away for holidays. The percentage has been constant for more than ten years, but holidaymakers are taking shorter trips and going away more often. Children and teenagers are the most likely to go away for their holidays (70% of the population under the age of 20). In 1999, one third of holidays were stays at the homes of relatives or friends. Mountains in the winter and the seaside in summer are still the holiday choice of the majority. They also prefer short stays abroad, in nearby countries, like Spain and Italy in the summer, or Tunisia in the winter.

The countryside is primarily a weekend destination for the French, with stays of fewer than four days, unlike foreign tourists, who prefer to spend more time there. In some French departments, such as Gers, Lot, Aveyron, Dordogne and Ariège, tourism has become the main business. Even though the French take great care of the interior of their homes, they do not overlook the outdoors. Gardening is attracting more and more enthusiasts, and thirty to forty garden centres open each year. Gardening is very popular and the success of gardening books, guides and magazines, along with the crowds at many gardening events, such as tours, exhibits, plant exchanges and national gardening days (“Rendez-vous aux jardins”) reflect this popularity. A garden is a living legacy that is a witness to the past, an opening to the future and a form of self-expression; even vegetable gardens are becoming pleasure gardens.

Many rural residents in France were hunters. Today, the number of hunters, standing at 1,384,000 in 2001, is declining steadily, even though half of the hunters in the European Union are French. Hunting is a hotly debated issue for ecologists and it is losing its popularity. Three million regular anglers and two million occasional anglers practice their sport in a non-conflictual atmosphere. Many anglers are members of associations that seek to draw the attention of the public and the public authorities to the degradation of oceans, lakes and rivers. Fishing is a popular sport that is often practiced as a family or with friends.

Sports today are seen as part of the quest for well-being and the desire to share a passion with family or friends. Interest in sports can be seen in the support for sports teams. For example, national championship football matches are attended by an average of 20,000 fans each and more than 10 million television viewers will tune in for a major match. The fact that the sports newspaper L’Equipe is the largest selling French daily paper is another sign of the interest in sport. Football, cycling and track and field sports are very popular. Newer sports, such as skiing, roller blading and hang gliding, are attracting a growing number of enthusiasts. Sports are practiced to keep in touch with nature and 63% of sports activities take place outdoors. Some sports are very closely linked to holidays. These sports include sailing, with 55% of the activity taking place during holidays, or skiing, snowboarding, water skiing and surfing. Physical exercise, which starts earlier and earlier in life because of school, diminishes as subjects age.