(Paris) Tourists from the Asian continent are back in Paris at the end of the year, with the exception of China, and those from other regions of the world are approaching pre-COVID-19 levels, indicates the Paris tourist office in its October barometer.
Posted at 1:38 p.m.
Air reservations to the capital made until October 10 for the end of 2022 (November and December) have exploded for tourists from Asia, compared to 2021: +519% for North Asia- East, +452% for the Middle East and +36% for Southeast Asia.
Almost three years after the start of the health crisis, these regions are returning to levels of attendance that are close to those of 2019: there will thus be only 12% fewer tourists from Southeast Asia compared to the last year before the crisis, and 19% less in the Middle East.
Northeast Asia is an exception (-56% compared to 2019), because “Chinese tourists are still missing,” the tourist office told AFP, adding: “There is a good improvement for South Korea, Japan starting to come back”.
Already visible since the beginning of the year, the return of tourists from America is also confirmed. Here too, Paris has found attendance levels almost comparable to 2019: -10% for North America and -13% for South America.
European visitors will be almost as many as before the pandemic at the end of the year (-3%), Italians (+20%), Spaniards (+18%) and British (+15%) being even more numerous .
According to initial estimates from the tourist office, attendance at Greater Paris for 2022 “could be around 35 million tourists”, i.e. 9% less than in 2019.
Paris was the first global destination sought after for the fall, ahead of London and Marrakech, according to data from the Booking platform.
The beginning of autumn was also marked by the resumption of congresses and exhibitions in the City of Light: the Mondial de l’auto (400,000 visitors) and the international food exhibition (265,000 visitors) “boosted attendance hotel in the capital”, with full establishments on certain days, underlines the Parisian tourist office.
“The recovery in business tourism this fall completes that observed in leisure tourism in the spring”, sums up the same source, which looks to 2023 with “reasonable optimism” despite the uncertainties posed by the economic climate and the energy crisis.