- Title: Tourism in Paris nearing record high despite 'yellow vest' protests and Brexit
- Date: 28th August 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 27, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PRESIDENT OF ILE DE FRANCE REGION, VALERIE PECRESSE, SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS WITH EIFFEL TOWER IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF ILE DE FRANCE REGION, VALERIE PECRESSE, SAYING: "I'd like to remind you that last year we hit a historical record number of tourists for the second year in a row. So we hope to do just as well in 2019 as we did in 2018, despite the 'yellow vests' and despite Brexit. If we can do better of course we're going to give it our all to do so." PECRESSE ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE PECRESSE SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF ILE DE FRANCE REGION, VALERIE PECRESSE, SAYING: "Obviously now we have to keep making progress on tourism. I know there's this polemic about knowing if there are too many tourists today in Paris. I am very aware of the problems that badly regulated tourism can cause - badly regulated tourism - in the city's centre. But I think it's more a question of regulation, I'm sure of it even that it's an issue of management and not of overtourism. Why? Because overtourism is what people experience in Venice and Barcelona, it's what you experience when you feel like the streets are invaded by people and that these are no longer cities where you live but ones that you visit. That's not the case at all in Paris." EIFFEL TOWER (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARIS RESIDENT, MARIE-CHRISTINE MAGNE, SAYING: "Tourists are good, they help with jobs, they make the economy work. In terms of disturbances, whether they are tourists or not, people are a nuisance, they throw their cigarette butts on the ground, they create trash, whether they are tourists or not." EIFFEL TOWER (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARIS RESIDENT, VERONIQUE BOYER, SAYING: "I like diversity and different cultures. The whole world comes here. People from Arab countries... everyone. From Europe, the Danish, the Swedish, it's great." PARIS, FRANCE (RECENT - AUGUST 2, 2019) (REUTERS) TOUR BUSES PASSING LOUVRE MUSEUM VARIOUS OF TOURISTS QUEUING INSIDE LOUVRE TOURISTS QUEUING OUTSIDE LOUVRE PEOPLE IN FRONT OF LOUVRE PYRAMID
- Embargoed: 11th September 2019 12:06
- Keywords: Brexit Champ Elysees Tourism overtourism Louvre museum tour bus Paris Eiffel Tower Women's World Cup tourist acitivity 'yellow vest' protests Valerie Pecresse
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA002AU4T26F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tourist numbers in Paris for the first half of 2019 were not far from the 2018 record despite Brexit and the sometimes violent "yellow vest" protests against the government which began last November, the president of the Ile-de-France region told reporters on Tuesday (August 27).
Some 17.28 million visitors have flocked into the iconic French capital and its surroundings from January to July, only down from 17.29 million in 2018, with tourist spending hitting 9.8 billion euros ($10.87 billion dollars), Valerie Pecresse said, adding she hoped to improve the numbers for the second half of the year.
Though the "yellow vest" protests did not seem to have scared too many tourists away, the Brexit effect on the other hand has cast a shadow on British holidaymakers with 304,000 fewer tourists to Paris than in the first six months of last year.
Pecresse told a news conference that Paris did not have an overtourism problem compared to cities like Venice and Barcelona but that the solution was proper regulation, especially within the city.
Last year, tourist arrivals in Paris and the Ile-de-France region around it set a record of 50 million people, up from 48 million in 2017.
Popular monuments such as the Louvre Museum however have had to take measures to manage the influx of people with 25,000 visitors each day and climbing to 50,000 on occasions when the emblematic museum opens its doors until late at night.
In 2018, the museum registered a record number of visits at 10.2 million.
Paris authorities aim to ban tourist buses from the city centre to spur visitors to walk, cycle or take public transport, and thus tackle complaints about nuisances caused by mass tourism.
France is the world's most visited country, receiving a record 89.4 million visitors last year, up from 86.9 million in 2017.
(Production: Thierry Chiarello, Kathryn Carlson and Pascale Antonie) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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