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 For the second year running however, the COVID-19 crisis will be
keeping away the tourists who drive the local economy along this
80-km (50-mile) stretch of the northern French coast.
For many in the industry, it is the big-spending North American
tourists who offer the biggest prize.
Leboeuf's company, the Gold Beach Company, has depended on
government aid for its survival after tough COVID-19 border
restrictions wiped out 80% of its business. Only he and the two
founders remain on the payroll, down from 10 in early 2020.
"I can't wait to get my first Americans back on tour," Leboeuf told
Reuters at the wheel of a restored U.S. army Willys Jeep.
"Taking these small streets through the Normandy countryside, it
reminds them of those movies or documentaries that they’ve watched
over the years. To them it’s like a dream to do this in a vehicle
from 1943."
From the D-Day tour companies in the north to campsites in the
Dordogne, businesses in the battered tourism industry are in a race
against time to secure bookings for a second summer as new
coronavirus variants cloud the outlook.
Before the crisis, nearly 90 million foreigners visited France
annually, with large numbers touring the beaches where some 150,000
soldiers from Britain, the United States, Canada and elsewhere waded
ashore or parachute dropped behind coastal defences on June 6, 1944,
to liberate western Europe.
Visitor numbers slumped when France imposed COVID-19 border
controls. The government plans to open borders to foreign tourists
on June 9 but will use a "traffic light" system that imposes tougher
curbs on visitors from countries where the virus is more prevalent.
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Hotels along the Normandy coast said they did
not expect a sudden influx of guests from North
America.
"They don't like organising trips at the last
minute," said Rima Hebert, whose luxury
32-bedroom hotel built in the shadow of Bayeux's
cathedral has been closed since March 2020.
Hebert said 95% of her guests were American or
Canadian. She planned to open two rooms later
this month but was not seeing a pick-up in
reservations until September and October -
bookings that were made last year. Even so, the
risk of new contagious variants made her
cautious about the months ahead.
"It's easy to cancel a reservation," she said.
Footfall has dropped sharply at the U.S.
cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, where 2,500
American troops were killed by German gunners
and artillery on the first day of the allied
offensive, said the memorial's superintendent.
Sylvain Kast, a freelance tour guide, would
expect to have full-time work over the summer.
Instead, he has only three bookings between June
and October.
He said that despite generous state financial
support he had worked nightshifts as a welder
and as a standby history teacher to help make
ends meet during the crisis.
"You do this job for the love of it," Kast said.
"It's been tough psychologically."
(Reporting by Lucien Libert; Writing by Richard
Lough; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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