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PARIS, Feb 7, 2007 (AFP) – France, the most visited country in the world, welcomed 78 million foreign tourists in 2006, an increase of 2.7 percent compared with 2005, figures from the tourism ministry showed on Wednesday.
About three quarters of the visitors were European, including a marked increase in Spaniards, but the figures also revealed a sharp increase in Chinese holidaymakers and a fall in Japanese.
The number of Chinese visitors increased “strongly” to 600,000, while
“Japanese tourism fell in a significant way” despite a pick up at the end of the year, Tourism Minister Leon Bertrand said.
Revenues from tourism increased by 2.5 percent to 35 billion euros (45.5 billion dollars), Bertrand said.
France is the most visited country in the world measured by visitor numbers, but is third in terms of revenues generated by tourism behind the United States in first place and Spain.
Copyright AFP
Subject: French news, Tourism