French tourism 鈥渃risis鈥� gets American & Chinese boost
The number of tourists visiting France has jumped by 10% in the past three months, with Americans, Chinese, and Japanese helping to boost the co-called 鈥渋n crisis鈥� sector.
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 鈥渃atastrophic year鈥� 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 鈥渘ational treasure鈥� during last month鈥檚 Interministerial Committee on Tourism (Comit茅 Interminist茅riel du Tourisme).
Philippe specified that France is aiming to welcome 100 million tourists between now and 2020, thereby generating 鈧�50 billion and creating 300 000 new jobs.
鈥淲e expect to see 89 million visitors before the end of the year,鈥� Philippe said in a statement, after admitting that 2016 had been 'catastrophic'. 鈥淭hat is 5 million more than we saw at the same time in 2016.鈥�
