Economy. 100 million visitors, but a decline in the market: the paradox of tourism in France

"France is no longer the world leader in tourism" and is losing market share in an increasingly competitive sector, Dominique Marcel, president of the Alliance France Tourisme, lamented Thursday. This think tank, which brings together companies such as Accor, SNCF Connect, European Camping Group, and Compagnie des Alpes, is organizing a conference Thursday with Régions de France on the theme "100 million tourists in France: reality or political totem?"

For Dominique Marcel, reaching 100 million foreign visitors by 2024 "doesn't mean much, since what's important is tourist spending," he points out. With €71 billion in tourism revenue last year, France ranked fourth in this regard, far behind Spain's €126 billion, which nevertheless had fewer visitors.

"What we want is to move from a volume approach to a value approach," continues Dominique Marcel, who believes that in the era of overtourism , it was not necessarily relevant to want to attract more and more visitors, knowing that the average length of stay is shorter in France than in other countries. "This is due to the fact that France is a country of passage," with visitors who only spend a "stopover night" in the country and who find themselves counted in the statistics.

For Dominique Marcel, France must invest more, renovate its hotel and accommodation facilities, and better meet the expectations of both visitors and the local population. "We must also not lose sight of the fact that two-thirds of global tourism spending is made up of French tourists," he says, which means we must not "focus solely on international customers."

To address these challenges, the Alliance France Tourisme wants to work more closely with the Regions and also better capitalize on the Olympic impact. "We shouldn't congratulate ourselves; others are progressing very quickly, and we're losing points. It's better to ask questions now because it takes ten years to invest," he concludes.