Tourism in France : a bad been linked to the decline in foreign visitors – The World

The attendance was down 2.5 % over 2015, with a marked decline in the Ile-de-France and on the coast.

The professionals had felt, Insee confirmed : the 2016 summer was bad for the tourism in France. The attendance of tourist accommodation between may and September fell by 2.5 % compared to 2015, according to the data of the regional committees of tourism published Wednesday, November 23, by the national Institute of statistics and economic studies (Insee).

Strong decrease in the capital and in the sea

The decline is very clearly noticeable in the Ile-de-France (12.7 %) and in the coastal regions (3.6 per cent). The effect of the Euro football was not enough to offset the strikes and the floods in the spring. On the coast of the west, the campsites have suffered from bad weather early in the season.

In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’azur, the season had pretty well started, but the hotels on the coast have shown very sharp declines after the terrorist attack on the 14 July in Nice. Only the departments mountainous or rural areas record an increase of overnight stays.

Read also : In France, the risk of terrorism puts in danger the tourism sector

foreigners shun the tourist regions

the sharp decline in foreign customers pulls down the attendance figures during the summer. This is the case in the Ile-de-France (16.1% of foreign tourists) and in the regions of the Loire valley castles (with 11.4% of foreigners in the Centre-Val-de-Loire – 11.8% in the countries of the Loire). On the other hand, Corsica is holding up well, and attracts more international tourists than in previous years (+ 9 %).

A quarter of Japanese and Italians in the capital

A study by the Insee, more particularly centred on the Ile-de-France details the attendance by nationality. American, British, Spanish… foreign visitors are to be in decline, but the decrease is proportionally more marked in the Japanese– to 23.1 % from 2015) and the Italian (– 22.9 per cent). The Chinese, who were the fourth country in number of visitors in 2015 are now on par with Germany.

plans to reassure tourists

the president of The region Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse, was presented in October measures to stem the decline of tourism, which had already lost ” 1 million tourists and $ 1 billion of revenue “ between January and August.

At the national level, the government has mobilized, on 7 October, an inter-ministerial committee for tourism, for the first time since thirteen years, in order to increase the security measures to reassure visitors and to revive a sector that employs two million people and accounts for 7% of GDP.

Read also : Tourism : France is in State of emergency