A perhaps unlikely benefit of this year's Tour de France was the boost in hotel demand at all stages of the event in July.
Occupancy Rate (OR) during the world’s biggest cycle race increased by more than 20, 30 and 40 percentage points in many cities, allowing hoteliers to increase Average Daily Rate (ADR) anywhere from 10 percent to 90 percent. In turn, the hotel industry’s main performance indicator Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) boomed, ranging from 20 percent growth to an amazing 276 percent, depending on the stage and city.
This year, stage one in and around Rotterdam, during July 2 and 3, recorded the greatest growth, fueled by a major increase in both OR and ADR, almost 40 points and over 85 percent, respectively (increase of the RevPAR reaches +276 percent and +213 percent these two days). Soon after, Cambrai/Valenciennes saw its OR completely full at 100 percent and ADR growing by over 46 percent. The day before the eighth stage in Toumus, all destinations in the departments of Jura and Saône-et-Loire (Dole, Mâcon, or even Chalon-sur-Saône) were positively impacted by the event. In both, RevPAR increases by over 30 percent, thanks to a 26 percent growth in ADR (+26 percent), as OR is already reasonably high in July.
