Tourism in France is doing well. Despite the demonstrations of "yellow vests" that may have cooled some foreign visitors, Paris and all of Île-de-France expect very good figures for 2019. "The results of the summer season are The surveys of professionals show that more than 70% of them consider that it is rising, or above the 2018 figures, "reports to Europe 1 Patrick Viceriat, president of the French Association of Tourism Experts.
The trend is therefore up for the summer period (the exact figures of reservations in July and August have not yet been published). The dynamic is in line with the first six months of the year, which posted on average very good results, despite a first quarter at half-mast (-4%) with a effect "yellow vests" that could give sweats cold to the professionals of the sector.
In Notre-Dame, "disaster attracts the world"
The month of June was particularly buoyant in the Paris region, including the Paris Air Show and the Women's World Cup. Above all, the closure of Notre-Dame de Paris - the most visited monument in Europe - after its fire on April 15, did not seem to discourage the curious from all over the world. "Tourist attendance in Notre-Dame is not weakening, as they continue to come, to go around the facades," observes Patrick Viceriat. "The disaster attracts the world.The tourists go around Notre-Dame to see the state of the cathedral", abounds Christophe Decloux, the director general of the Regional Committee of Tourism of Ile-de-France. As a reminder, in 2018 the cathedral has welcomed every day between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors.
"Bishop Chauvet (rector of the cathedral, ed ) is planning to create a place of meditation on the esplanade.As soon as the question of lead will be resolved, it will be necessary to look at the reception of tourists," says Patrick Viceriat.
A risk of overtourism?
Because it must be said that some neighborhoods of the capital were found this summer in a situation of overtourism, that is to say, engorged by a very intense attendance. Thus the area around the Eiffel Tower, now a prisoner of a wall of glass installed in the wake of the wave of attacks that hit France between 2015 and 2016. "We will not compare to Venice. , the Ile-de-France is a huge region, there are plenty of things to visit.This effect of concentration of people at the same place does not exist! ", yet sweeps Christophe Decloux. But this specialist recognizes that the flow management can still be improved in places, and especially as 2019 is on track to break the record of 2018 in terms of tourist attendance.
"The record for us is not to exceed 51 million visitors, but to increase the income generated by tourism," says the boss of the Regional Committee of Tourism Ile-de-France. In this case, 22 billion euros for the year 2018, a relatively small amount compared to the number of visitors. Because if France hosts many tourists, they spend much less money on the spot (on average 460 euros per head, according to the figures of the World Tourism Organization for 2016) than do those who go, for example, in Spain (720 euros on average) or in the United States (2,450 euros).