Disaster for tourism as US visitors shun Paris

The Daily Telegraph ^ | 01/08/2003 | Henry Samuel

[ijcr]

Millions of foreign tourists are shunning France this summer, costing the country billions of pounds and threatening its position as the world's favourite destination.

Travel agents say there is widespread evidence that the tourist industry is suffering as a result of President Jacques Chirac's vehement stand against the war in Iraq. The strong euro has added to the crisis.

According to the president of France's travel agents' union, Cesar Balderacchi, bookings from the United States in the past six months were 50 per cent down on last year, with no sign of improvement as the tourist season reaches its peak. British visitor numbers have fallen by around 10 per cent.

Tourism is of enormous importance to France. Last year, 77 million visitors arrived, lured by France's gastronomy, wealth of history and topographical variety, bringing in £24 billion. American tourists alone accounted for £4.2 billion.

"After the Iraq crisis, many American tour operators just airbrushed France out of their brochures. Instead of offering a tour including Britain, France and Italy, say, we are now replaced by Spain," said M Balderacchi.

A brief tour of the centre of Paris yesterday confirmed his fears, with not a busload of camera-wielding Americans or Japanese to be seen.

On a clear, sunny day, the bateaux mouches that ply the Seine were all but empty. Three or four heads stared balefully from an red open-top sightseeing bus.

"Thanks very much, Tony Blair and friends," said the bus conductor.

"Where have all the Americans gone?" asked a gloomy waiter in a cafe next to Notre Dame. "Usually two waiters are hard pushed to cope during the summer months, but this year it's just me - not enough custom."

Iraq is one factor. But Serge Thellier, who has had a souvenir stand on the Ile de la Cite for 43 years, blamed the dollar. "The Americans were like flies round honey in the 1980s when there were 10 francs to the dollar," he said. "Give me two euros to the dollar and they'll be back, bin Laden or no bin Laden."

According to figures published yesterday by the hotel industry association, hotel bookings were down by a quarter throughout France for July, with the luxury sector the worst hit.

Its president, Andre Daguin blamed Iraq, Sars, oil-sullied beaches from the tanker Prestige, strikes which led to the cancellation of many summer festivals and the recent forest fires. "We have been spared nothing," he said.

Not only Paris is suffering. Tourist visits are down by a third on the coast in Aquitaine and inland in the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne.

The French Riviera has not been spared either. Rentals of luxury yachts along the coast are down by half. Not a single boat has been hired by an American in Cannes or Monaco, according to one yacht company. "We can expect a lot of firms to go under," said one owner.

In an editorial this week the newspaper Libération said the strength of anti-French sentiment across the Atlantic had been underestimated. "Convinced that the peace of the brave begins at the table, the French never really believed the Americans would fall out of love with them," it said.

To add to the tourist trade's woes, even the French are staying at home. According to a report published yesterday by the national tourist board, only half are taking breaks this summer and for shorter periods. Until recently, virtually the whole of France was on holiday in August.

[CathyRyan]

Who would want to go to Paris? Who would want to tell family and friends that they had gone to Paris?

[eddie willers]

I studied synchronized swimming.

Hootenanny Dancing for me.
Just goes to show you that even the most orthodox of upbringings can create evil.

Nurture.....or Nature?

[Artist]

Man, that sounds like a GREAT trip....Your post makes me want to pack the car! :^)

[carlo3b]

Until recently, virtually the whole of France was on holiday in August.

...a...er.. volonté dernière dehors, arrêter les lumières... au revoir .....Ba Bye

[jern]

It has more to do with the rise of the Euro than Chirac in my opinion. I love Paris, I can't wait to go back.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

Why is it so windy in Europe?



Because France sucks and Germany blows.

[krunkygirl]

bump and ditto

[ijcr]

Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu'on M'a Fait, Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M'est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
C'est Paye, Balaye, Oublie, Je Me Fous Du Passe


Avec Mes Souvenirs J'ai Allume Le Feu
Mes Shagrins, Mes Plaisirs,
Je N'ai Plus Besoin D'eux
Balaye Les Amours Avec Leurs Tremolos
Balaye Pour Toujours
Je Reparas A Zero


Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Ni Le Bien Qu'on M'a Fait, Ni Le Mal
Tout Ca M'est Bien Egal
Non, Rien De Rien, Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Car Ma Vie, Car Me Joies
Aujourd'hui Ca Commence Avec Toi

No! No regrets

No! I will have no regrets

All the things

That went wrong

For at last I have learned to be strong



No! No regrets

No! I will have no regrets

For the grief doesn't last

It is gone

I've forgotten the past



And the memories I had

I no longer desire

Both the good and the bad

I have flung in a fire

And I feel in my heart

that the seed has been sown

It is something quite new

It's like nothing I've known



No! No regrets

No! I will have no regrets

All the things

That went wrong

For at last I have learned to be strong



No! No regrets

No! I will have no regrets

For the seed that is new

It's the love that is growing for you


This should be France's National Anthem.

[F16Fighter]

"The French would have enjoyed repeating their surrender in familiar surroundings....[So], The French built a replica of it [railcar] and it's just waiting there in the Compiegne clearing..."

Then the Frogs are well prepared for the inevitable....We might assume a Muslim General will be addressing surrender terms this time.

[DeFault User]

I'm a big Piaff fan and that's one of her best. However, the anthem may well be:

"C'est a Hambourg"

C'est à Hambourg, au ciel de pluie,
Qu'il a posé ses mains sur moi
Et qu'il m'a fait crier de joie
En me serrant fort contre lui,
M'a dit "je t'aime !" à plus finir,
"Laisse donc là tous tes marins !
Laisse donc la mer, et puis viens !
Moi, j'ai du bonheur à t'offrir..."

"Ma p'tite gueule..."

It's the universal song of the whore welcoming the sailor...

In Hamburg under rainy skies,
he placed his hands on me
and made me cry out with joy
pulling me tight against him,
he said "I love you!" as he finished,
"Leave all your sailors there!
Then leave the sea!

Me, I'll show you a good time... " "My dear.."

[Akira]

"Thanks very much, Tony Blair and friends," said the bus conductor.

"Why you are very very welcome" replied Tony Blair and friends.

[George W. Bush]

We might assume a Muslim General will be addressing surrender terms this time.

Amazingly, I found the following tidbit in my new book, The History of the Future: "Following the surrender of France to Muslim hegemony in 2007, the railway car where they submitted their national sovereignty to Mohammed's hordes was transferred to a museum in Saudi Arabia."

[Travis McGee]

The muslims will offer no terms, only a "choice" of conversion or beheading to "Eurabians."

[F16Fighter]

"Amazingly, I found the following tidbit in my new book, The History of the Future: 'Following the surrender of France to Muslim hegemony in 2007...'"

Whoa -- Is the author of this book Travis McGee??

[F16Fighter]

Conversion OR beheading will no doubt be the extent of "courtesy" extended under Eurabian rule toward their former hosts.

[Travis McGee]

I seriously wonder if the Euros will ever stand and fight.

To do so, I think, requires that one believes in something though. The Euros believe in nothing.

They don't even believe in themselves enough to raise one more generation of Euros, almost all of Europe has fallen well below replacement birth rates.

"Eat dring and be merry, for tomorrow we die and the hell with what comes after that."

Such a people deserve whatever fate other stronger people thrust upon them.

[F16Fighter]

"I seriously wonder if the Euros will ever stand and fight.

To do so, I think, requires that one believes in something though. The Euros believe in nothing...."

Indeed the Euros do believe in something...

.... In the name of liberal self-guilt and "tolerance of diversity," the European elite have somehow indoctrined its citizenry to accept the obliteration of any shred of tradition and sovereignty of their respective ancestries in exchange for an egalitarian Eurabian culture.

Yep -- They will have reaped what they have sown.

Will we conservatives be able to repel the exact same blueprint that the Democratic liberal elite holds for a similar vision of an un-sovereign America? Not as long as the Second Amendment reamins intact, Bro ;-)

[Travis McGee]

Indeed. The 2nd Amd has to go before this could happen in the USA.