All the indicators are green for French tourism this year, according to the national tourism body 'Atout France'. Indeed, "booking rates in the hotel industry" are ahead of last year and the reopening of the Chinese borders will bring back a "spending" clientele in Europe including France. The Americans are also back.
If 2023 gets to the level of 2022, everything will be 'perfect' since last year's figures were excellent: foreign tourists brought in 57.9 billion euros for France.
This figure is quite significant and linked in particular to inflation and price increases, according to the tourism development agency of France. If we compare the figures for 2019 to those for 2022, the increase is 1.2 billion euros.
Belgians (spent €7.3 billion), Germans (spent €6.5 billion) and British (spent €6.2 billion) were the top spenders in France in December 2022, and overall, for the year 2022. Visitors from the United States ranked fifth among the biggest spenders with €5.6 billion.
"The whole challenge for France is to strengthen the offer qualitatively so that we manage to increase the spending budget without losing the number of tourists," said Olivia Gregoire the tourism minister.
"We must also respond to the new expectations of tourists: sustainable tourism, four-season tourism in the mountains, 'savoir-faire' and so on," she added.
While economic and social pressures remain strong, occupancy forecasts for the various tourist accommodations point to strong performances for the entire industry in the coming months, barring any major geopolitical incidents.
For 2023, France, like the rest of the world, is looking forward to the return of Asian tourists who were absent in 2022 (-31 percent compared to 2019).
French tourism should also benefit from another tourist asset for the second half of the year: the 2023 Rugby World Cup in September.