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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 Saturday and expected to attract 300,000 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, such as 'la putain et le moitier-voleur ont perdu leurs boucliers de gencives pendant le dessus-dessous' ('the hooker and first five-eighth lost their gum shields during the up-and-under').
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 US and Spain - for income from tourism.
In an uncharacteristically sharp interview, the Secretary of State for Tourism Luc Chatel said at the 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."
Claude Origet du Cluzeau, one of the authors of the study, said: "We have to banish our arrogant image of the shopkeeper who aggressively throws the change on to the counter. 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, an unusually wet month, showed a sharp decline in bookings in northern France and a rash of cancellations of early departures at campsites.
- Observer
