French tourism industry is finally celebrating. After two years, tourists are back in force in France. The strong rebound, that reaches the figures from before the attacks in 2015 and 2016, benefits mainly to the urban areas and in Ile-de-France, according to INSEE (French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies).
During the last three months of 2016, the amount of overnight stays showed an increase of 3.9% compared to the last quarter of 2015, after two consecutive quarters of decline, according to the Institute of Statistics. This strong rebound is more than offsetting the net decline recorded a year earlier (-1.8%) related to the impact of the attacks from January 2015.
The restart of French tourism is particularly strong regarding French travelers (+ 4.3%), while the flow of foreign visitors rose by 2.9%. In total, the metropolitan France reported 56.3 million overnight stays, summed up the Insee.
In 2015, some 85 million foreign tourists visited France, but the figure for 2016 has not yet been published.