Always popular, France seeks even more visitors
France, already the world’s top draw for international visitors, is ready to spend hundreds of millions of Euros in a drive to up the number to 100 million visitors by the end of this decade. Last year’s total was 84 million.
The money will fund not only promotion, but also upgrades for hotels and other attractions, which will be able to borrow or receive grants from the fund for upgrades and improvements that will give visitors a better experience. The foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, recently told a TV interviewer that the welcome is “not always extraordinary,” despite his belief that “tourism is a national treasure.”
The Council for the Promotion of Tourism will announce the first 40 “concrete projects” to be funded this Thursday.