The Beach by the Seine Will Have to Suffice

The number of French vacationers has risen continuously, growing from an estimated 30 percent of the population in 1950 to more than 70 percent in the early eighties, Froidure said. CNN Travel had this sad story in today's editions.

"After stagnating for about two decades, these numbers appear on the decline. Nearly four out of every 10 French people don't go on vacation -- nearly half of them because they can't afford it, according to a 2004 study by the Tourism Ministry.

All European nations guarantee employees between four and five weeks' paid vacation a year. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries without national minimums on the length of vacations, according to the International Labor Organization.

The French average seven weeks of paid vacation a year -- two more than the country's labor laws stipulate. They work an average of 1,441 hours per year, compared with 1,661 hours for the British, and 1,824 for Americans, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports.

In August, France all but shuts down. In Paris, so many shops, restaurants and pharmacies close that those staying open often put up signs: "We're here in August."

But things are changing. The number of people unable to get away is on the upswing, and worried officials are starting to respond.

For a fourth year, Paris has transformed a 3.5-kilometer (2.1-mile) stretch of the right bank of the Seine into a temporary beach, trucking in tons of sand and palm trees and drawing hoards of well-oiled, bikini-clad stay-at-homes.

Last year, a record 3.9 million people -- Parisians and tourists alike -- visited the riverside beach."