The Hindu : Front Page : France loses perch as top tourist spot

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Monday, Sep 03, 2007
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France loses perch as top tourist spot

Slips to third place behind U.S. and Spain

New guidelines to be enforced for those working with foreigners
Lack of friendliness blamed

PARIS: The pursed lips, the callous shrug of the shoulders and the infamous indifference to the struggling foreigner has been the stuff of tourists’ moans for decades. But now the notorious grumpiness of the French would seem to have got its comeuppance.

For the first time since tourism was invented, France has slipped from its perch as the world’s top destination. And the authorities are taking it so seriously that new guidelines are to be given to those working with foreigners to urge them to be better hosts.

After a dismal summer, tourism chiefs in France say only the Rugby World Cup —starting on Friday and expected to attract 3,00,000 foreign fans — looks able to keep the cockerel crowing. But for that, the French are going to have to put up with a deluge of misuse of the language of Moliere.France was last week jolted by the realisation that, while still blessed with 79 million annual visitors, the country has slipped to third place — behind the U.S. and Spain — for income from tourism. In an uncharacteristically sharp interview, the Secretary of State for Tourism Luc Chatel said this weekend: “We have to make a collective effort. We were very successful in the 1970s, but tourists are different now; they book by themselves on the Internet and prefer short trips. Our greatest handicap is our perceived lack of friendliness.”

After years of grunts directed at foreign visitors, the French have come up with at least two initiatives that could improve their reputation. The first is a rugby glossary, Oui Je Parle Rugby, published last month by the Foreign Ministry. The second, more audacious, is Meeting the French, an agency which arranges for tourists to be invited to dinner in French homes.

Agency director Laurence Monclard said so far 80 French households had signed up. “They are people who want to make friends with tourists so as to, in turn, visit their countries.”

“We have to banish our arrogant image of the shopkeeper who aggressively throws the change on to the counter,” said Claude Origet du Cluzeau, one of the authors of the study. “It would be so simple for traders to put up “bienvenue” panels and for post office counter workers to wear little flags if they speak foreign languages.”

The preliminary tourism figures for July, published last week, showed a sharp decline in bookings in northern France and a rash of cancellations or early departures on campsites in Brittany and Normandy.

Andre Daguin, president of the Union des Metiers de l’Industrie Hoteliere, blamed the rainy summer. “It’s been the wettest for 30 years. From Dunkerque to La Rochelle, things have been really bad. From La Rochelle to Biarritz, it has been reasonable.”

The Mediterranean coast, despite losing many of its Russian tourists — who are said to face increasing visa difficulties — was found to have regained its share of British and American tourists. For the second year in a row British tourists outnumbered all other visitors, ahead of the Germans, the Dutch, Belgians, Italian and Spanish. Ministry of Tourism spokesman Didier Arino said that, despite the strength of the Euro, the U.S. market had recovered.

With the 3,00,000 foreign supporters expected to travel to France for the Rugby World Cup from September 7 to 20 October, French cities will have a chance to boost their tourism revenue. “But we are not worried about the cities,” said Chatel. “They have done well this summer, thanks to the rain.”

Chatel sent a sharp warning to the French hospitality sector. “Tourism can be a strong contributor to the growth that the President is calling for. But we have to consider that the market has changed, that you can spend a week in Morocco for 200 euros, and that rural, green tourism is the future niche market that we have to exploit.”— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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