INTERVIEW
US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that travel from Europe to the United States will be suspended for 30 days to stem the coronavirus epidemic. At the microphone of Nathalie Lévy, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Tourism, explained on Thursday how catastrophic this decision proves to be for French tourism.
Cascade cancellations
"French tourism is affected by this situation. I am receiving a number of companies from the tourism sector and cruise lines tomorrow because we are facing cancellations," said Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. He said for example that "tour operators experience cancellations in the range of 60 to 70%, and that 85% of hotel and restaurant establishments are affected" by the coronavirus crisis.
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After the surprise announcement by Donald Trump, many American tourists fearing to be stranded in Europe rushed Thursday to several European airports to return to the country. Faced with this observation, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne stressed that "almost 20% of American tourists come to Europe". And, according to him, these tourists spend "about 3.5 billion euros" on French soil.
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To help the tourism businesses penalized by this flight of tourists, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne estimated that the government is doing "everything to set up support measures for VSEs and tourism SMEs". Among them, there is the possibility of "spreading a certain number of tax and social charges for the companies most threatened" or even "tax cancellations and reductions".