Chinanews, August 11, according to a report compiled by the "European Times", the French government's state secretary in charge of tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne) said in an interview with the media. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the French tourism industry lost at least 30 to 40 billion euros. Lacking tourists from China, the United States and Russia, the French tourism industry can only rely on a large number of domestic tourists to make up for some of the losses.

  According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, citing AFP reports, the French tourism industry suffered heavy losses due to the lack of foreign tourists. In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, the French government’s secretary of state for tourism, Le Moine, made it clear that the “direct loss” caused by the epidemic this year to the French tourism industry is at least between 30 billion and 40 billion euros; At the same time, he emphasized that some international tourists "will never return." Le Moine explained: "Under normal circumstances, the tourism industry will bring France 180 billion euros in revenue, of which international tourists contribute 60 billion euros. The direct loss caused by the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is at least 30 to 40 billion euros. He added: “Many tourism companies tell us that their turnover will drop by 20% to 25% by the end of the year.”

70% of French people on holiday choose domestic travel

  Although from a numerical point of view, the impact of the epidemic on the French tourism industry is disastrous, Le Moine also noted that “many French people actively participate in the revival of the French tourism industry and prefer to stay in their home country for vacation”. He pointed out that statistics show that 70% of French people who go on holiday choose to travel domestically. Le Moine concluded: “This is a summer of blue, white, and red (the French flag is blue, white, and red). The French stay in the homeland for vacation will save the troubled tourism industry. "He further explained: "But understand that under normal circumstances, France receives 17 million foreign tourists every summer; on the contrary, only 9 million French people go abroad for vacation. Nowadays, some of these international tourists have gone forever. It's back."

  However, Le Moine believes that there are still some signs "encouraging. For example, the number of tourists from Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain who intend to travel to France in September is significantly higher than in July and August, which will help tourism. The peak season is prolonged and will consolidate the recovery of the tourism industry". Le Moine praised "the performance of the tourism industry in July" and "has high hopes for the tourism market in August and autumn." But "the current (tourism) recovery is still relatively fragile," he added, "Once a local infected population appears, it will immediately lead to cancellation of accommodation and travel reservations."

Extension of the partial unemployment mechanism

  At the international level, the World Tourism Organization (Organisation mondiale du tourisme) predicts that (the epidemic) will cause as much as US$320 billion in losses to the world tourism industry. The World Tourism Organization pointed out that from January to May this year, the number of international tourists plummeted by 56%. The World Tourism Organization is also worried that the epidemic will cause the loss of 100 to 120 million direct jobs in the tourism industry.

  In order to prevent a wave of business closures in the tourism industry, the French government has announced an extension of the partial unemployment mechanism for tourism-related companies. In addition, the government has also introduced a new type of government-guaranteed loan, in which the repayment period can be extended for two to three years. The government also has high hopes for the revival of the "French Destination" tourism project this year. (Jia Yan)