France hopes to receive 50 million visitors this summer, mainly from Europe, Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told Le Journal de Dimanche on Sunday.
Visitor arrivals totalled “35 million last year and 90 million in 2019, so this summer is a hopeful one,” Mr. Lemoyne said.
"A European clientele from neighbouring countries is there: Germans, Dutch, Belgian,” he explained. “On the other hand, like last year, fewer people are coming in from Britain because their government has imposed strict quarantining on their return.”
Most visitors from outside Europe, an important clientele for Paris in particular, are still expected to stay away. “A few Americans have been coming back since June, but we’ll not see the Asian tourists before 2022; and Paris is still suffering from a lack of business tourism,” the Secretary of State said.
The good news is that “as many business events are scheduled for September-December 2021 as in 2019,” Lemoyne said, “but there is a downside: events-sector professionals expect a 50% drop in the area of stands rented.”
Many French residents are also expected to spend their holidays at home.
“In 2020, 94% of French people who went on holiday chose France,” Mr. Lemoyne said. “This year, 80% have already done so, and with the arrival of the fourth wave all over the world, many will end up choosing to rediscover our territories. They will doubtless be around 85%.”
The Brussels Times
