(Paris) First world tourist destination in terms of visitors, France wants to “focus on financial revenues” for which it is less well ranked, explained Friday the Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the next day of the “destination France summit”.
The country received 90 million foreign travelers in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, confirming its leadership position in terms of arrivals.
“We are aiming for 50 million this year. Getting back to pre-crisis levels will take a little time, ”said Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne during a conference call with the press. “Today we want to focus on recipes where we are less good in international rankings,” he said.
Foreign travelers brought in $ 63.5 billion in 2019, placing France on the third step of the podium behind the United States ($ 193 billion) and Spain ($ 80 billion), according to figures from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
“We came second in terms of revenue during the crisis,” said the Secretary of State for Tourism. “In 2019 we were at 170 billion euros in revenue, including 60 billion at the international level. The objective is to increase revenues and in particular international revenues, ”he said.
Thursday, around fifty French and international bosses from the tourism sector were welcomed by Emmanuel Macron before an afternoon of round tables and meetings, while a “tourism revival plan” is to be announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex mid-November.
Mr. Lemoyne is considering annualizing the meeting which he described as “a very successful event”. Some announcements were notably made by the participants of this first summit.
The travel platform Tripadvisor has announced that it has signed an agreement with Atout France, France’s state-dependent tourism development agency, including an investment of two million euros in “targeted advertising” aimed at attracting international travelers to the region. ‘Hexagon.
Atout France has also signed a partnership with Expedia, an online travel agency, to “develop more sustainable tourism and accelerate the visibility of the destination France and its regions” via an advertising campaign.
The hotel group Accor had already announced Thursday to become an official partner of the 2024 Olympic Games while Airbnb communicated on a donation of 5.6 million euros to the “Heritage and Local Tourism” program of the Heritage Foundation.