France is the world leader in tourism ahead of the USA and Spain
France retained its title as the world tourism destination in 2013, attracting nearly 85 million visitors despite the weak economic situation, ahead of the United States and Spain.
With its Mediterranean beaches and mountain ranges for skiing, its rich architectural heritage and tourist attractions ranging from Versailles to EuroDisney, France became even more popular last year, receiving a 2 percent more visitors than in 2012.
Tourism figures showing that the number of Chinese who visited France grew by 23.4 percent, and tourists from India by 15.7 percent for a total of 4.5 million Asians are a good news in a gloomy economic outlook on the other side.
The unemployment rate in France is stuck at record levels of 10 percent and economic growth data, which will be broadcast on August 14, is expected to grow just 0.1 percent. The tourists spent a total of 600 million nights in France last year, an increase of 4.6 percent from 2012's average duration of their stay - 7.1 days - was 2.5 percent higher than the previous year. The government estimates that tourism's contribution is around 6.5 percent of GDP.
Visitors from North America - whose numbers rose sharply during the global economic crisis - continued to rise, with growth of 5.8 percent during the year, to 4.2 million. The increase in North America and emerging markets caused a slight drop in visits to Spain, Brazil and Japan, the Bank of France explained as a result of economic difficulties in these countries.
In late June, the government of President François Hollande considered increasing tourism tax to raise revenue in a country that tries to reduce the deficit to the limits set by the EU.
However, the increase was dismissed in July after violent protests by local authorities and hotel managers, who said such an increase could kill demand at the beginning of the summer season.
Source: Teletica
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