Is France really the world champion in tourism?

France, world champion of tourism? In any case, that’s what we often hear… But is that really the case? France is, certainly, the country which welcomes the most tourists each year. But according to a study by the European Commission, it is not the one that welcomes the most foreign tourists! Above all, it is the French who visit France, and for shorter periods on average than some of our European neighbors.

80% French clientele in certain regions

If you travel to France for the All Saints’ Day holidays, you are especially likely to come across… French people. Because France is, by far, the country in Europe where local tourists are the most numerous, while Spain and Italy welcome, in proportion, more foreign tourists.

A very French specificity, which is not necessarily a weakness, explains Didier Arino, general director of the Protourisme firm: “France is a great vacation country since paid leave and it is part of the DNA of our fellow citizens to go on vacation, on vacation, on short stays and fortunately we have a very interesting mix with most of the French territories more than 80% of the clientele being French.

On the other hand, and this is much more penalizing, France is, in a way, a country of passage.

Shorter stays

Foreign tourists who visit our country stay shorter than in Spain or Italy, explains Jean-François Rial, CEO of the Voyageurs du Monde Group. “These are more seaside destinations than us, particularly Spain. And then you have a proportion of foreign tourists who come to France, around 15 to 20%, who are freight forwarders, who come from Western Europe. north to go to Spain in particular, and which therefore structurally weaken the average length of our number of stays.

Result: if France is the leading tourist destination in the world in terms of number of visitors, it receives less revenue linked to international tourism than the United States, or even Great Britain.