They are back! After having deserted France during the two years of strong health restrictions, English and American tourists return to Touraine… To their delight, but also that of tourism professionals.
The English on the first step of the podium
Installed in the small tourist train of Tours, Kevin and his family arrive straight from England. “We came two years ago before the Covid, but we stopped at Le Mans!” Now that it’s easier to travel, they’ve come back to Tours. “Friends told us to come here and it’s great.” Like many English people, they are won over by Touraine: they are the first foreign visitors to the department.
Secondly, it’s another big comeback, the one Americans. “It’s the first time we’ve traveled since the Covid and it feels good”smiles Julia, who took off from California. “We had missed it for two years.”
A real difference for tourism professionals
A return which also delights tourism professionals. Laurence Lansard is the driver and presenter of the little Tours train. “The train is filling up faster than last year. We even start an hour earlier than in 2021.” Same for the castles of the Loire. “For us, American tourists, it still represents nearly 15,000 visitors a year”explains Henry Carvallo, the director of the Château de Villandry.
According to the Tours tourist office, after the English and the Americans the Belgians are on the third step of the podium foreign tourists in Indre-et-Loire. But the first visitors, all categories combined, remain Tourangeaux!