French Tourism Industry Struggles

Matthias Fekl, France’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, revealed an unprecedented drop in the number of tourists entering France in an interview with the French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche on August 7. Tourism officials blame the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting, the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and the more recent July 2016 Nice attacks for the decline.

Throughout France, companies in the tourism sector are struggling with losses. Le Monde reports that Air France-KLM and AccorHotels experienced drops in profit in July and August. Initial losses were attributed to falling numbers of Japanese, Russian, and Italian tourists. Now, American and Chinese visitors are more and more frequently choosing to travel to destinations other than France as well.

The Paris Ile-de-France region, where tourism plays a dominant role in the local economy, has been hit especially hard. According to the Regional Tourism Committee of Paris Ile-de-France, the number of arrivals to the region fell from nearly 16 million people in the first half of 2013 to just under 15 million in the first half of 2016. For the 500,000 professionals in the Paris Ile-de-France tourism sector, this drop caused  a loss of €1 billion in revenue.

Tourism officials have already begun responding to what they view as an emergency situation. Because the tourism sector makes up a significant seven percent of the French GDP, the President of the Tourism Committee, Frédéric Valletoux, has called for improved security measures to reassure wary tourists. He told Le Figaro, “It’s time to become aware of the industrial disaster that the tourism sector is experiencing. It is no longer time to rely solely on communication campaigns, but rather to implement a plan to deal with this major civil emergency.”

Furthermore, Valletoux has also called upon Jean-Marc Ayrault, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, to meet with tourism sector officials to craft a response plan. Ayrault has taken action, adding €500,000 to a budget that is used to promote tourism in France.

Despite the concerns of government officials and major companies in the tourism industry, France’s domestic tourism sector appears relatively strong. Frédéric Valletoux admits to Le Figaro that while France continues “to see a contraction in the number of clients, especially Americans and Asians,” the numbers of “French tourist clientele seems to remain the same.” While French vacationers cannot rescue France’s tourism industry alone, their continued spending has slightly padded the loss of foreign income for the time being.

In the long run, however, France will have to convince tourists from China, America, Japan, and Italy that the country is safe.