French tourism “crisis” gets American & Chinese boost

Tourism has been an area of concern for French ministers recently, after the number of nights sold by hoteliers grew by just 1% in the first six months of the year.

The new figures also mark a significant increase from the numbers in 2016, which was seen as a “catastrophic year” by commentators, despite the Euro 2016 football championship attracting many visitors to Paris and the country in general.

France is currently on a drive to increase tourism, with prime minister Edouard Philippe recently calling it a “national treasure” during last month’s Interministerial Committee on Tourism (Comité Interministériel du Tourisme).

Philippe specified that France is aiming to welcome 100 million tourists between now and 2020, thereby generating €50 billion and creating 300 000 new jobs.

“We expect to see 89 million visitors before the end of the year,” Philippe said in a statement, after admitting that 2016 had been 'catastrophic'. “That is 5 million more than we saw at the same time in 2016.”