You wake up one morning, turn on the radio and hear something terribly familiar. While the coffee maker is bubbling, you try the 13th, 22nd, 37th TV channels and ascertain what is there in color, in black and white – already seen. You just have to sigh and declare to yourself: the time has come for vacations, the editorial staff and the studio are empty, everyone is up to the lantern and the country has switched to repeating broadcasts, to Relays. Such discoveries occur almost without exception against the background of an unusual silence: the city stopped pulsating, growling, rattling, creaking and squealing, it is quiet, like a village outskirts, which is confirmed by the thrush from the window catalpa.
Holidays – a legitimate and paid fall into childhood, or at least moving into youth, this is the era of retro and road FM twist Nugaro and Sarda, Vartan and her ex-husband Holiday.
In eighty cases out of a hundred, the sea is ahead, it is the ocean, the beaches of San Malo, La Baule, Kibron, Langlet or Lavandou, San Rafael … On sizzling roads reeling south, salty radio water flows from the windows of Peugeot and Citroen muddy from coastal sand; and the smell of more expensive gasoline is mixed with the smell of suntan oil.
Summer France is a country of festivals, exhibitions, open-air performances, concerts in gardens and on beaches. And since the population of the country during this period almost doubles, it is quite possible to understand the Minister of Economics, for whom the period of festivals is the most important budget item! Tourists and vacationers not only buy tickets to the theaters of Aix-en-Provence or Biaritstsa, but also pay for places in hotels, leave checks and tips in restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. Summer is a serious but moody business. Neither a clear sky, nor a moderate temperature, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance can order. Economic analyst at France-Info, Francoise Benamoux is sure that festivals exist for all tastes: “Reims Musical Walks,” Khoregia “in Orange, the International Church Music Festival in Verona, La Roque d’Anteron Piano Festival,” FrancoFoli “in La Rochelle, jazz festivals in Villet, in Juan-les-Pan, in Sete, in Vienne, in Meluse, theater festivals in Ramatuel, in Corsica, of course in Avignon, the festival of” Street performances “in Aurillac. And that, of course, is not all. Festival madness engulfs not only our country, but in a tourist country like France, it is especially significant. The economic aspects of festivals are diverse. Profit from them is known. For example, the budget of the Avignon IN festival “weighs” 9.9 million euros. 60% of the budget is state and local subsidies. The income from the festival is 22 million euros. Moreover, it is not known what exactly makes up this amount: profit from ticket sales? profit of restaurants, hotels and cafes? .. But it is not known how much the festival costs the city itself. However, the main profit of the festivals is jobs. ”
This post is also available in:
English 
Русский (Russian)
