film tourism is growing in Paris and accelerating the notoriety of French cities

The phenomenon has greatly increased since 2018 due to the explosion of series on streaming platforms.

Nearly eight out of ten foreign tourists wanted to visit Paris after watching a fiction shot in the French capital, six points more than in 2018, notes the second study by the National Cinematography Center (CNC) on the “cinema tourism” published this Thursday, January 18. For one in ten respondents, it is even the trigger and the main reason for their coming to France.

In half of the cases, the series Emily in Paris (38%) and Lupine (11%) alone motivated the curious, selected from the six nationalities most represented in the capital. Carried out with the Ifop group, this study confirms, according to the CNC, the increase in “cinema tourism” in Paris and France, which consists of going to discover the city or the filming location of a fiction.

“Boost the notoriety of cities”

Although this phenomenon is not new, “it has greatly amplified” since 2018, in parallel with the explosion of streaming platforms, explains Cécile Lacoue, director of studies at the CNC, contacted by AFP. For her, it is a “very interesting lever for developing tourism” And “boost the notoriety of cities”.

In Paris, one in two foreign tourists watched Lupine, French blockbuster with Omar Sy in the role of a gentleman burglar. Comes next Emily in Paris, about the adventures of a young American woman in the Parisian luxury world, viewed by 44% of respondents. Two series produced by the American platform Netflix, much more popular abroad than the French series (Versailles, Marie Antoinette, Ten percent), according to the study.

On the other hand, “exposure to French works is better in 2023 than in 2018”, increased from 81 to 86%, welcomes Cécile Lacoue. Viewing made easier by audiovisual platforms, which have become the primary means of access to French fiction for foreign tourists, far ahead of television and cinema. Thus, 41% of travelers surveyed watched the dramatic comedy Untouchables and 37% the spooky Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain. But American blockbusters Da Vinci Code, Mission Impossible: Fallout Or The devil wears Prada, located partly in Paris, are still slightly ahead of French feature films.

THE “cinema tourism” also concerns the French : 22% of respondents say they have traveled to France after watching French fiction, such as Welcome to the Ch’tis Or More beautiful life. Behaviors that can encourage overtourism, “very targeted and linked to buzz effects”, notes Cécile Lacoue. Already existing in the Norman seaside resort of Étretat, the phenomenon has increased with the series Lupine, where it was partly filmed. In summer, 10 000 tourists flock every day to this city of 1 200 residents.