Tourism : despite the attacks, France remains the first destination – RTL.fr

Credit : AFP / Ludovic Marin

The Eiffel tower under a bright winter sun, on January 14, 2017

by Ambre Deharo , AFP published the 10/02/2017 18:27

France continues to resonate as much. This is the conclusion drawn by Jean-Marc Ayrault, who announced, on February 10, that for the year 2016, the country retained its place as the world’s leading tourist destination. And this despite a decrease recorded in connection with the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and Nice in July 2016. Thus, between at 82.5 and 83 million foreign tourists have trampled the French soil in 2016, according to initial official estimates provided by the government. This represents a decrease of 2.3 to 2.9 % compared to the year 2015 (85 million foreign tourists).

The ministry of foreign and european Affairs has estimated that “2016 is going to stay for one year, because of terrorist attacks, inclement weather, and social movements“, but that, despite this context of the more specific, the France remained the world’s leading destination, and this ahead of the United States and Spain. Jean-Marc Ayrault has also reaffirmed the goal set by the government, that is, 100 million foreign tourists by 2020. A number that had been decided in June 2014, i.e. before the wave of terrorist attacks that hit France and Europe in particular.

The return of the empire of the rising sun

Among the reasons of these good results, the head of diplomacy referred to a “bounce evident at the end of 2016″ in terms of overnight stays recorded. The trends for the beginning of the year 2017 following the same path with an increase of 10.4 % of airline reservations to the destination of Paris in the first half. The director general of Atout France, the agency for the promotion of tourism in france, confirmed that France “has really begun a recovery from September/October”, and that the end of 2016, had been “better than expected”.

Jean-Marc Ayrault has also praised the return “massive” customer japanese who had shunned France from the end of 2015. Many tourists who cancelled their arrival in France after attacks in Paris and then, later, Nice. According to The World, Jean-Marc Ayrault has praised “the airline reservations, an increase of 60 % to Paris for the first quarter of 2017″ on the sole japanese client. The government had announced in November 2016 that it was releasing a budget of forty million euros to support the tourism sector-French. The challenge security is a priority of France, some 15 million euros had been allocated specifically to the safety of foreign tourists.

The recovery in paris

If the recovery is strengthening in January and February, it can be seen especially in the capital. The hotel industry paris had suffered greatly of the disaffection of tourists, more than the cities of the province. The Quai d’orsay, recalling that the sector, for the nights had recorded a decrease of 5.7 %. “2016 was a difficult year for our businesses, especially in Paris and on the Côte d’azur”, has confirmed Roland Héguy, president of the primary organization hoteliere, Umih. If the decline of cinema attendance in France after attacks in Paris and Nice was expected, it has, however, stated that it had been “contained”.

on The 7th of February, the Insee had already delivered its first estimates about the recovery of tourism activity in the country. On the last three months of the year 2016, the number of nights accumulated by foreign tourists and French rose: 2.9 %. The final figures for 2016 should not, however, fall before the month of April. But according to a calculation of the AFP, having collected the provisional data published by quarter, the total number of overnight stays of foreign tourists decreased by 6.8% compared to 2015.

writing recommends that you