France: The most attractive tourist destination worldwide

During the difficult year 2020, many countries have been hit hard by lost tourism. However, tourism in France, relying on the strength of its domestic market and the European market, has overall enjoyed a competitive advantage than its main competitors and remained the world’s leading destination with around 41 million international tourists, showing that France continued to be very attractive by offering a wide range of tourist services.

Before the pandemic, France registered an average of 83 million international tourists annually since 2012 with around 91 million tourists in 2018 and 2019 and first place in the world ranking.

The objective of the government and “Atout France” the Agency for the Development of Tourism in France responsible for strengthening the positioning of the destination France internationally is to reach 100 million international tourists per year post-pandemic.

This will be achieved by: improving the quality of products and services; diversifying offer; and by attracting more tourists from emerging countries in Asia and Africa, which represent a significant potential for the years to come.

This would allow visitors to discover or rediscover the richness of France’s historical, cultural and natural heritage.

The tourism industry in France represents around 7% of the total GDP and about 2, 9 million direct and indirect jobs.

Many public policies are directly involved in the attractiveness of France such as the improvement of the quality of transport and public health services, the preservation of heritage and the development of sports tourism and business tourism.

The expected development of tourism in the coming years requires French government to integrate the environmental dimension. Local authorities have also made great efforts to protect the cultural heritage and the landscapes in order to make France a “sustainable destination”.