[...] all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact,
that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.
Pascal
With mass tourism, all the Woody Allens and Bridget Jones of the world were faced with a great dilemma. Agonising questions: who am I when I am elsewhere (speculative introspection about the true hidden self) and how do others see me (as a single person in a two-piece or a one-piece)? With their shrinks, text messages and forums, these disorientated Woodys and Bridgets are distracted (in the Pascalian sense of the term) by a hotel and tourism industry, which, at the start of the 21st century, speaks to them in the same way as Charles spoke to Emma (Bovary)[1]. A quick overview of this business dialogue (which falls on deaf ears)…
Who am I when I am single?
When I have no one in my bed, in my lounge, in my lift or on my mobile at the moment, when others see me as single, when a relationship does not count, or, even, counts so little in the esoteric arithmetic of romantic reason (who, perhaps, has never had many)? When I am not married (enough) and what about civil partnership contracts? When (even more so) I am not living with him or her. When there is no unofficial, but only official relationships.
Therefore, when I am a tourist?
When my behaviour expresses human and social mobility based on a budgetary surplus likely to be devoted to free time spent outside of the main home [...]. according to the start of the definition by the Encyclopaedia Universalis.
Conversation between Emma and Charles.
In short, on the one hand, there are many complex questions concerning an undefined sense of dissatisfaction – tension between a questionable sense of fulfilment and a standardised image of romantic life – and, on the other hand, a specific response to a means of social representation based on consumption and a given lifestyle visible to others.
Accounts.
With 6.3% of the GDP, about 200,000 companies and almost 2 million jobs, the tourism sector is vital for the French economy. Single people are identified by INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) as unmarried individuals living alone. There are at least 15 million such people. It goes without saying that this figure is a very promising prospect for development, a financial opportunity which, as of yet, has not been shamelessly exploited. Which pick-up lines are favoured? Simple solutions which have been tried and tested: You are not happy with the way society views you? You will be happy with it when you try our packages.
Representation.
Thus, the play on social representations takes on its full meaning. These involve playing with the representation of standard images. Explanation: You are this famous “singleton”, consider, or, at least, pretend to consider that we are all casual participants in love… and that everybody envies you for assuming your situation so clearly – you are among the 40% of single people who do so. Of course, it is only natural that you do not want to seek your pleasures with “early-to-bed” families. Explanation No.2: You do not know (or no longer know depending on your age and situation) how to take advantage of the ambiguity of pretending that things are all alright and, as a result: this social relegation makes you suffer.
The presentation.
Whether you are ready to assume your romantic situation socially or, on the contrary, you are prepared to do anything to change how others view your romantic life, the tourism industry has designed products especially for you. For this, it has started by analysing your habits before working hard to convince you to adopt the same behaviour in order to find your soul mate. The social theatre calls upon its best producers and props: sun, city, hotel-club, bar, swimming pool.
Because, according to a study by Match.com in 2007:
- 32% of single people travel to sun destinations
- 30% opt for large cities for practical reasons and in order to escape the usual clichés
- 30% opt for hotel clubs, better for meeting people
- 20% are hoping to find true love
- 70% are open to all propositions, love or friendship
- Single people who were no longer single by the end of their holidays met for the first time at the hotel-club’s bar for 40% of them and at the swimming pool for 25% of them
The opening scene.
Curtain. While Charles and the producers observe the languishing Emma, to offer basic solutions, concrete solutions adapted to her emotional and social languor, travel agencies meet the needs analysed as being specific to single people (especially the agencies “C’est pour nous”, www.cpournous.com, “Célivacances”, www.celivacances.com, ”Idylik”, www.idylik.fr, “Nouvelle dimension”, www.nouvelledimension.free.fr, “Partir seul”, www.partirseul.com, “Vacances célibataires”, www.vacances-celibataires.net, “Voyages célibataires”, www.voyages-celibataires.inooi.com…). Not to mention the eternal UCPA (note the age limit of 40 years!) and Corfu Club Med.
On the court side.
In addition to replying to a specific social need, these agencies have the merit of dealing with the main enemy of the single person, even before that of the risk of loneliness, that of the single room. In effect, single rooms are systematically the object of a surcharge, something which is not paid by couples. And, sharing a room or a bungalow with someone you do not know is not necessarily ideal, although sharing systems sometimes do exist. It is here that specialist agencies are, no doubt, more interesting. Nevertheless, generalist Tour Operators do also have special offers for single travellers (Club Med, Nouvelles Frontières, etc.).
On the garden side.
In reality, the economic problems of single tourists may be resolved easily either by ordinary travel agencies or by spontaneous gatherings of single friends, or even by the experience of other travellers on Internet forums, however, the real challenges of this specific niche market of tourism resides in social representations. When one is single, why choose to declare or escape from how others view this social status when on holiday?
Behind the scenes.
If, on the surface, magazines provide endless lists of how to find true love, ingenious methods for filling your luggage with vintage swimwear, lists of unmissable venues for single people looking for love or wanting to show how happy (and we mean ha-ppy) they are, the force of attraction of the relationship to what is socially acceptable leads to a very beautiful dialogue which falls on deaf ears. One thing is certain: the relationships between consumption and frustration still has many beautiful years ahead.
[1] According to Flaubert, his conversation was as flat as any pavement.
