The minister said that France is the world's most visited country for tourists, and tourism accounts for around 8 pc of French GDP (Photo: India Outbound)
French Tourism Minister Olivia Gregoire says she expects the tourism industry receipts in the current year to rise to EUR 67 billion, a growth of 15.6 pc over the receipts of EUR 58 billion that the industry recorded in 2022.
‘‘We have had a very good summer,’’ said Gregoire, who was briefing the press in Paris on the summer report of the tourism industry.
She said that France is the world’s most visited country for tourists, and tourism accounts for around 8 pc of French gross domestic product.
Olivia Gregoire
Gregoire said that, based on current estimates, the final figures for revenues generated from foreign tourists in 2023 should come in between EUR 64-67 billion.
She added that despite inflation and sometimes unfavourable meteorological context, the results were positive but nevertheless show changes in the tourist habits of the French. She added that in July and August 2023, nearly 7 out of 10 French people had gone on vacation.
‘‘The French have made holidays sacred, despite the inflationary context,’’ she said, adding that the summer of 2023 was a season which, ‘‘beyond being excellent, is interesting in terms of lessons to be learned.”
About 88 pc of French tourists chose their own country for their holidays. The summer report added that the French tourists concentrated on the coasts, which are always very busy in the summer. Nevertheless, their distribution on the territory was more homogeneous than usual since the mountain and countryside destinations, which were more affordable, recorded an increase in attendance this summer.
Another change observed, says the report, was the choice of type of accommodation frequented by holidaymakers. Outdoor accommodation and rental accommodation recorded a slight increase of 0.8 pc, with 79 million overnight stays over the July-August period. The record increase in attendance was recorded by rental accommodation, with a volume of overnight stays up 11.8 pc compared to last year in the month of July. While in the hotel industry, where the amount per room increased by up to 30 pc in certain regions compared to 2019, occupancy declined by 2.2 pc compared to the summer of 2022.
Gregoire added that arrivals of long-haul flights increased, over one year, by 29 pc in July 2023. The return of international customers was mainly driven by American tourists, with reservations up 22 pc. As for tourists from Asia, the minister added that they had started to find their way back to France and their arrivals were up 119 pc from 2022. And yet, this remains a 37 pc decline from the pre-pandemic period.
Gregoire said that she would present the final balance sheet of the summer at the end of September, due to the late start to tourism season.
