At the same time they take August off work ~ making France a miserable place to visit in that month.
I was stationed in a small town near Wurzburg Germany for a good long while. Every June they had a Straus Fest ~ which attracted tourists. That went with a wine festival featuring a broad selection of Franconian Wines.
It also attracted far more than its fair share of Swedes, Norwegians and Finns who were using MIdsummer as an excuse to visit lower latitudes where they could sleep.
They'd sleep along the streets, in farmer's fields, just outside our airbase and tank park ~ in the woods (Klauster Forest).
Although we hear about the French shutting down for August, just what do they do in Scandinavia. It's gotta' be awful if not dangerous.
No question...I was in Paris once in August (I think it was in ‘03, on business) and experienced what you speak of. NYC in August has become like this in the past 15 years or so (tourists pretty much have the streets to themselves during this time).