Tourist activity in Paris and Île-de-France climbed in 2022 with more than 44 million visitors welcomed, an increase of 95% compared to 2021. Pre-pandemic levels have not however been found, Chinese tourists who were unable to leave their country last year because of the “zero Covid” policy.
On the tail side, the jump is spectacular: +95% of tourists in Paris and in the Île-de-France region in 2022 compared to the previous year. But in detail, it is a sham increase, because France and the world were still very restricted in 2021 by the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures.
On the face side, the observation is less brilliant. The number of visitors to the capital and its region is down 13% compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic, according to a press release from the Paris Île-de-France regional tourism committee.
” After the lifting of travel restrictions and the reopening of most countries, tourism gradually restarted from 2021, initially driven by domestic customers, then by local international customers, and more recently by local customers. distant, with the exception of some Asian countries “, explains the regional committee.
2023, the year of renewal?
The French clientele is the first with 24.7 million tourists, followed by Americans (2.4 million), British (2 million), Spaniards (1.5 million), Italians (1.5 million), Germans (1.4 million), Belgians (1.2 million), Dutch (871,000) and Swiss (529,000).
The absence of Chinese tourists is glaring. And for good reason: for almost three years, Beijing applied a strict “zero Covid” policy, which prevented its nationals from traveling abroad. After increasingly lively protest movements at the end of 2022, the authorities have largely relaxed their measures. Since January 8, 2023, Chinese people have been allowed to travel abroad again.
Their return is eagerly awaited by the tourism sector all over the world, and in particular of course in France: before the pandemic, more than 2 million visited France each year.
Christophe Décloux, Managing Director of the Paris Ile de France Regional Tourism Committee
After having obtained that English is not the only foreign language used at the Eiffel Tower, defenders of the French language are taking legal action to obtain the same thing around Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The association Defense of the French language filed an appeal to this effect with the administrative court of Paris, on the occasion of the International Day of the Francophonie, Monday, March 20.
She invokes the Toubon law of August 4, 1994, which protects the status of French, especially in the face of the inexorable progress of English. This law obliges the administration, if it translates its public communication, to do so in at least two foreign languages. ” The interest of the Toubon law is not to give a bonus to the Anglo-American. Because if there is only one foreign language, it is always Anglo-American. The law therefore protects French, since it is supposed to promote linguistic pluralism.that,” explains the association’s spokesperson, Louis Maisonneuve.
The Eiffel Tower forced to go Spanish
The public establishment responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral (EPRDNP) is targeted. Around the building, on the Ile de la Cité, some explanations of the work on this site are in French and English. The “request for excess of power” is accompanied by others, for the same reasons. They aim altogether 20 major public bodies “, according to the association.
The latter cites Monuments de France, for the signage of the alignments of Carnac (Morbihan), La Poste, for the slogan “Ma French bank”, the Army Museum in Paris, for cartels, or Bordeaux Métropole, for the tram signage. Throughout 2022, Défense de la langue française waged an identical fight, ultimately victorious, with the Paris City Hall, concerning the signage of the Eiffel Tower.
” They were threatened with legal action. It took a year. They progressed little by little and eventually they changed everything to add Spanish in November, said Louis Maisonneuve.
(With AFP)