Mideast tourists flock to Paris Posted on August 27th
PARIS (Reuters Life!) - The weak dollar knocked
Americans from their place as Paris’ top foreign visitors in
the first half of the year but tourism from oil-rich Middle
Eastern countries surged, a report released Tuesday showed.
Data from the Paris tourism office showed U.S. visitors
spent 20.1 percent fewer nights in the city during the first
six
months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier.
“The last time we saw such a drop from the U.S. must have
been over 15 years ago,” Paul Roll, head of the tourism office,
told a news conference upon announcing the figures.
“Clearly it’s due to the exchange rate, but overall Paris
is
doing quite well — urban tourism in general is very strong
because it is easy to visit cities on short trips,” he added.
British tourists, many taking advantage of the Eurostar and
low-cost flights for weekend visits, overtook Americans as the
city’s top visitors despite the euro’s strengthening against
the
pound, the officials said.
But the biggest single increase in foreign tourists came
from the Middle East, a bloc that registered a 23.7 percent
jump
on the year as oil spiked to a new record of more than $148 a
barrel. There was no breakdown available on which Middle East
countries the tourists came from.
France is the world’s top tourist destination, drawing
nearly 82 million visitors a year.
Paris has the most expensive “high-end” four-star hotels in
western Europe, with an average price of 388 euros ($570.80)
per
night, the report said, citing a study by auditors MKG
Hospitality.
Overall, hotel occupancy increased 1.4 percent compared to
the same period a year earlier, a trend expected to last
through
the second half of the year and top 2007’s record.
The figures showed French tourists favored their capital
far more than other nationalities, racking up 6.2 million
nights
spent in hotels there, followed by the British with 1.8
million,
Americans with 1.7 million, and Italians with 1 million. Middle
East visitors came in 11th.
Visits by Japanese tourists, traditionally an important
bloc, fell 8.1 percent over the period.
Chinese tourism fell by 6.7 percent, but Roll said this had
more to do with domestic affairs than with a boycott of France
called for by some Chinese after demonstrators clashed with
police at the Paris leg of the Olympic torch rally.
“Even before the boycott, we were projecting fewer Chinese
visitors in 2008 because they would be more interested in the
Olympics in China,” Roll said.
(Reporting by Brian Rohan, editing by Mary Gabriel)