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PARIS - France retained its title as the world's top tourist destination last year, attracting 78 million visitors in the face of growing competition from other destinations.
Rising numbers of visitors from Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and east European countries contributed to a 2.7 per cent increase in the number of tourists to France compared with 2005.
Chinese tourists are also flocking to France in growing numbers, with 600,000 visiting the country last year.
Tourism revenues rose 2.5 per cent from €34 billion in 2005, according to the French Tourism Ministry.
That is good news for a sector which employs about 2 million people directly or indirectly and accounts for 6.5 per cent of the gross domestic product of the euro zone's second-biggest economy.
The ministry said about 846,000 workers were employed in hotels, cafes and restaurants at the end of the third quarter last year, an annual increase of 2.5 per cent compared with the 1 per cent rise seen at a national level across all sectors.
"That means 19,200 jobs were created, the highest number in five years," the ministry said.
Large and small French hotel groups have already reported rises in sales for last year, helped by a strong final quarter.
- REUTERS
