Blame it on spilled oil, increased ferry fares - or even the row over beef. Whatever the reason, the British have deserted France in droves this year. Though the pound still buys some 5% more francs than this time last summer and the French authorities insist most Brittany beaches are now clean, tour operators have been dangling discounts of up to £250 to attract customers during the school-holiday peak.
Market research carried out for the travel industry suggests the number of package holidays to France booked through travel agents was down 19% at the end of May, compared with last year.
Though there appears to have been a late recovery, most tour operators confirm that overall business is still down. Brittany Ferries and the Holidaybreak group -which includes camping operators Eurocamp, Keycamp and Sun Sites - have teamed up to launch a website (www. latesaverfrance.com). Earlier this week, it was listing more than 400 self-catering properties still available. Visitors to the site will find persistence pays: the biggest discounts - as much as £244 on a self-catering property in Brittany - are on the pages furthest in.
French tourism minister Michelle Demessine has declared all Finistère beaches oil free and says only around one in 20 of those in Morbihan and the Vendée are still polluted. The most serious problem is an area less frequented by British tourists, around the mouth of the Loire, from La Turballe, through La Baule to the Ile de Noirmoutier. On this stretch of coast, only 30 of 72 affected beaches are likely to be clear by the start of the main holiday season.
But Sussex-based Beck's Holidays (01273 842843), which has 50 mobile homes in resorts including St Jean de Monts in the Vendée and Benodet in south Brittany, says the oil scare has depressed its business by 15-20%.
"The beaches near our camp sites are clean at the moment," says Jennifer Beck. "We also operate to the Dordogne - but bookings there are not nearly as badly down." The company is offering £50 discounts in the peak after negotiating better cross-Channel ferry deals.
Camping operator Mark Hammerton (01892 525456) is so confident about the clean up that followed the sinking of the Erika in December that he will offer refunds if customers' holidays are marred by oil on beaches closest to his sites.
"I have personally inspected them - and they are all immaculate," he says. Among other holidays, the firm can offer 12 nights in a tent sleeping two adults and up to four children at Pleubian in Brittany for £839 or at Sarlat in the Dordogne for £905.
But aside from oil spills, he says, France is not "flavour of the year". Higher cross- Channel fares, which ferry firms blame on the loss of duty-free revenue, may have been a factor. Hammerton says rates negotiated by tour operators are up by about 15%.
French self-catering specialist Chez Nous (01484 684075) says bookings have materialised much later this year. "We are very busy at the moment. We still have plenty of choice," says a spokeswoman. The company can offer proper ties in Brittany, the Dordogne and Provence among others.
"Although July and August are busy, there are still offers around for those people who can be flexible with dates and resorts," says Jonathan White, marketing manager at VFB Holidays (01242 240310, www.vfbholidays.co.uk). His company has knocked £75 off all one-week holidays to Corsica with departures until August 20. A week's half board at the Hotel San Giovanni, near Porto Vecchio, departing on July 30, now costs £595pp based on two sharing, including flights, car hire, accommodation and insurance.
French Life (0113 2390077) claims bookings are up on last summer. But it is offering 10% off cottage or villa holidays nonetheless. A one-week package with accommodation at the Villa Eole, near Six Fours in Provence, which sleeps up to nine, now costs £2,180 between July 13 and August 23 - down £240. Crossings for an extra car and passengers cost £109-£154 return, depending on departure date.
France is not the only country where peak-season deals can be had. Bookings to Austria are reckoned to be 14% down, perhaps because many travellers have been deterred by the success of the right-wing Freedom Party. Thomson (0870 6061470) has plenty of availability there. A week's half board in the Salzkammergut lake district, departing on June 26, costs £249.
But unpopularity is not always a reliable indicator of late availability. The murder of two Leeds football supporters in Istanbul earlier this year is likely to have deterred tourists, and sales of packages to Turkey are lagging by 24%. This would suggest it would be worth asking your travel agent about last-minute deals - but Thomson, for one, says it has cut back capacity to Turkish resorts and has few holidays left there for the peak.
I t has more space left in Spain's Costa Blanca and Majorca, and the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu. Packages still available include one week, half-board breaks at the Hotel Rio Park in Benidorm, departing on August 1, for £471; or the Hotel Metropolitan Capsis on Rhodes, departing July 31, for £605.
Sunvil (020-8568 4499) also has Greek packages left. They include self-catering holidays in Skiathos, where two people, flying from Gatwick, could spend a fortnight for £416 each. Managing director Noel Josephides says: "Overall, we are 5% up year on year. Cyprus is extremely full but there is some availability in Greece, provided people are flexible about when and where they go."
