American & European tourists generate €58 billion in revenues

Saturday, March 4, 2023

European and American tourists are back in France after a two-period pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rates show that revenue generated by international tourism has peaked at €58 billion as of December 2022.

According to France’s national tourism development agency, Atout, the revenue was up by €1.2 billion compared to 2019, with the return of European and American tourists making a noticeable difference, Schengen Visa reports.

The top three countries of origin for tourists in France last year were Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom, nationals of which have spent €7.3 billion, €6.5 billion, and €6.2 billion, respectively.

In addition, the United States was ranked fifth, spending €5.6 billion in 2022.

The whole challenge for France is to strengthen the offer qualitatively so that they manage to increase the spending budget without losing the number of tourists.

They must also respond to the new expectations of tourists: sustainable tourism, four-season tourism in the mountains, ‘savoir-faire’ and so on,” Tourism Minister Olivia Gregoire told a news agency.

As per revenue generated from international tourism, Spain was once again ranked first in Europe throughout 2022, with an amount of €64.8 billion generated by the end of November.

Similarly to the rest of the world, France will also be receiving an increasing number of Asian tourists in 2023, which marked a 31 per cent decrease compared to 2019.

Data by the National Institute for Statistics show that a total of 322 million overnight stays were spent by tourists in France between April and September of 2022 – 2.4 per cent more than at pre-pandemic levels.

The gradual return of international visitors was evident by the end of the season, while domestic tourism was up by 5.3 per cent.

More specifically, the number of tourists marked a comeback in August, while in pre-pandemic levels, the country attracted almost 90 million international visitors, while the data for 2022, although it hasn’t been public yet, shows the recovery looks strong.

Moreover, during the second quarter of 2022, occupancy in collective tourist accommodations was close to 2019 levels – stalling behind by only three per cent.

France is also expected to take advantage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in September, which, according to the forecast of the international tourist arrivals by a study, will reach a total of 279.48 million.

However, according to the same source, the number of arrivals predicted for the upcoming years cannot beat 2021 levels when 300.31 million international arrivals were expected to reach the country.

In reality, 48.4 million arrivals were recorded in 2021, about 6.7 million more than in 2020 and 42.5 million less than in 2019.

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