Tourism in France


Tourism in France directly contributed 79.8 billion euros to gross domestic product, 30% of which comes from international visitors and 70% from domestic tourism spending. The total contribution of travel and tourism represents 9.7% of GDP and supports 2.9 million jobs in the country. Tourism contributes significantly to the balance of payments.
France was visited by 89 million foreign tourists in 2018, making it the most popular tourist destination in the world, however considering the number of nights spent in the country, it is in sixth place, after United States, United Kingdom, China, Spain and Italy. France ranks fifth in tourist spending behind the United Kingdom, United States, China and Spain.
France has 37 sites inscribed in the UNESCO's World Heritage List and features cities or sites of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity. Small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage are promoted through the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. The "Remarkable Gardens" label is a list of the over two hundred gardens classified by the French Ministry of Culture. This label is intended to protect and promote remarkable gardens and parks.

Statistics

Most tourists arriving to France in 2014 came from the following countries or territories:
RankCountry or territoryNumber of tourists
1European Union68,436,000
2Switzerland6,200,000
3United States3,169,000
4China1,661,000
5Brazil1,542,000
6Canada1,001,000
7Japan784,000
8Russia678,000
9Australia400,000

Number of stays

In 2014, tourists from the following countries spent the most nights in France:
RankCountryNumber of nights
1Germany86,400,000
2United Kingdom79,700,000
3Belgium59,500,000
4Netherlands43,600,000
5Italy42,700,000
6Spain34,700,000
7Switzerland33,600,000
8United States27,600,000
9Portugal12,000,000
10Canada11,000,000
11China10,200,000

Tourist attractions

Paris

, the capital city of France, is the third most visited city in the world.
It has some of the world's largest and renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world, but also the Musée d'Orsay which, like the nearby Musée de l'Orangerie, is mostly devoted to impressionism, and Centre Georges Pompidou, dedicated to Contemporary art.
Paris hosts some of the world's most recognizable landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, which is the most-visited paid monument in the world, the Arc de Triomphe, the cathedral of Notre-Dame, or the Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre. The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, located in Parc de la Villette, is the biggest science museum in Europe. Near Paris are located the Palace of Versailles, the former palace of the Kings of France, now a museum, and the medieval village of Provins. Both attractions are protected as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

French Riviera

With more than 10 million tourists a year, the French Riviera, in southeastern France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Parisian region.
According to the Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, it benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses and 3,000 restaurants. Each year the Côte d'Azur hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet, with 90% of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime.
Main cities on the French Riviera include Nice, Antibes and Cannes; Cap Ferrat is also a popular destination. Cannes hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival. Tourists also often visit the Port-Cros National Park, east of Toulon, and Monaco, near the Italian border.

Provence

A large part of Provence, with Marseille as its leading city, was designed as the 2013 European Capital of Culture. Numerous famous natural sites can be found in the region, as the Gorges du Verdon, the Camargue, the Calanques National Park and the typical landscape of Luberon. Provence hosts dozens of renowned historical sites like the Pont du Gard, the Arles' Roman Monuments or the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Several smaller cities also attracts a lot of tourists, like Aix-en-Provence, La Ciotat or Cassis, on the Mediterranean Sea coastline.

Loire Valley

Another major destination are the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. The French Revolution saw a number of the great French châteaux destroyed and many ransacked, their treasures stolen. The overnight impoverishment of many of the deposed nobility, usually after one of its members lost his or her head to the guillotine, saw many châteaux demolished.
During World War I and World War II, some chateaux were commandeered as military headquarters. Some of these continued to be used this way after the end of the Second World War.
This World Heritage Site is noteworthy for the quality of its architectural heritage, in its historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Orléans, and Saumur, but in particular for its castles, such as the Châteaux d'Amboise, de Chambord, d'Ussé, de Villandry, de Chenonceau, and de Montsoreau, which illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the French Renaissance.

French Alps

The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as the Mont Blanc massif, are shared with Switzerland and Italy.
More than 20 skiing resorts make it a popular destination among Europeans in the winter.

Corsica

Corsica is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. It is a popular attraction for tourists with both cultural aspects and geographical features.
The Calanques de Piana and Scandola Nature Reserve are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The island is 183 kilometres long at longest, 83 kilometres wide at widest, has 1,000 kilometres of coastline, more than 200 beaches, and is very mountainous, with Monte Cinto as the highest peak at 2,706 metres and around 120 other summits of more than 2,000 metres.
Mountains comprise two-thirds of the island, forming a single chain. Forests make up 20% of the island.

Notable places

Cities

France has many cities of cultural interest, some of them are classified as "Town of Art and History" by the French Ministry of Culture. All major cities in France are worth seeing since they all have cultural and historic attributes.

Villages

is an independent association, created in 1982, that aims to promote small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. As of 2008, 152 villages in France have been labelled as the "Plus Beaux Villages de France".
There are a few criteria before entering the association: the population of the village must not exceed 2,000 inhabitants, there must be at least 2 protected areas, and the decision to apply must be taken by the municipal council.

Specific attractions

Religious pilgrimage

France attracts many religious pilgrims on their way of St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts a few million visitors a year. The Taizé Community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work.

Theme parks

is France's and Europe's most popular theme park, with 15,405,000 combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009. The historical theme park Puy du Fou in Vendée is the second most visited park of France. Other popular theme parks are the Futuroscope of Poitiers, Vulcania in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Parc Astérix near Paris.

Most popular sites

The most popular tourist sites include :