After the good news about France’s overall growth, which reached 1.9% in 2017 according to Insee data, comes another, likely related, piece of good news about tourism.
France has regained its position as the third country in the world where tourists spend the most, thanks to new calculation methods.
The Banque de France, responsible for compiling statistics on tourism in France and its contribution to the country’s GDP, found that tourists were spending much more than expected. For the year 2016, for example, expenditures were nearly 10 billion euros higher than previously estimated.
Thus, contrary to what the institution had previously stated, France is no longer 5th but 3rd. In 2016, tourist expenditures actually amounted to 49 billion euros, whereas they had only been estimated at 38.4 billion euros until now.
Even better: for 2017, this calculation method might allow France to surpass the historic milestone of 50 billion in tourism revenues (up to 54 billion), which was the goal the government had set for… 2020.
