In a context of increasing vacation costs, offers to go cheaper appear to be solutions, even if it means making children miss school. A taboo that is no longer really one, especially when it comes to elementary and middle school students.
While many voices are being raised in the professional sphere of tourism to stretch the tourist seasons in order to limit the overpopulation of visitors, many good plans offer to go on vacation outside of the most popular days, or even slots. vacationers. In short, by leaving on Thursday, you have a better chance of paying less for your stay, provided that the whole family is available…. And if the children are still at school the question arises: should we miss class?
Previously taboo, this issue is becoming less and less so in a context of rising vacation costs. The prices of plane tickets increased by 4.4% from France, and all destinations combined, last March, according to the latest report from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC). Generally speaking, the cost of transport increased by 3% in one year according to consumer prices calculated by INSEE for the month of March. And according to the annual survey by the Protourisme firm on French vacation forecasts for 2024, the budget is down, standing at 2,450 euros compared to 2,638 euros in 2023.
Faced with tempting offers that force parents to miss class on Friday, some parents no longer have any complexes. When we ask the question to the entire population, and therefore not just to parents, as the reservation platform Lastminute.com did through Opinionway*, 43% of French people consider it acceptable to miss school a day. or two days. Primary and middle school appear to be the most opportune times to go on vacation earlier (respectively 64% and 61%), undoubtedly because these class levels are not correlated with obtaining a diploma (we will recall however that the college certificate takes place in third). As for whether the teacher will agree, 65% of respondents believe that teachers are rather understanding on this subject.
Above all, this study demonstrates how mentalities have evolved on this subject since more than three quarters of French people (77%) feel no discomfort at the idea of making a student miss school. Has the introduction of teleworking lifted the psychological constraints in terms of face-to-face work? There is every reason to question…
*This Opinionway study for lastminute.com was conducted at the end of March with a sample of 1,015 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
