If you have ever visited Paris during the month of August, you’ll have noticed many businesses are closed with signs like the ones above. You wonder why they would close in prime tourist season? Let’s go back in time, and you will understand.
Paid annual leave was established in France after the “Front Populaire” won the 1936 elections. From two weeks per year the duration rose to four weeks in 1968. (It’s now five weeks.) Coupled with a reduced-price “annual leave” train ticket, this extended the possibility to vacation by the sea beyond the upper classes who’d enjoyed this privilege since the 19th century.
School holidays were originally meant to leave children free to help their parents with the harvest and the vintage. However, with more and more parents working salaried job instead of the fields, and the rising prosperity level following World War II, the dates were gradually moved forward to start at the beginning of July.
Factories got into the habit of slowing production in August, the hottest month of the year, often obliging their workers to take their paid leave during that time, with a domino effect on suppliers and other businesses, as well as the workers’ spouses.
The long and short of it, and despite a recent tendency to fragment the annual leave into smaller parcels, August remains the favorite time for the French to go on vacation.
A few years back, my friend Sarah Elzas (check out her work) who works for the radio, did a piece on the subject titled “France is fermée” for which she interviewed me among others. Listen to it here: