Despite a big drop last year after a number of terror incidents, and despite predictions of permanent damage to Paris as one of the world’s top tourism cities, the city is on track to hit its highest numbers in a decade.
The Regional Tourism Authority for Paris and its surrounding Ile-de-France region reported first-half numbers that are quite high, and signs that the surge is continuing into the second half. Hotels in the region had 16 million guests in the first half, and visitors rose by 14.6%.
“The signals are clearly green for the tourism industry in Paris Ile-de-France”, said Frédéric Valletoux, President of the Regional Committee of Tourism Paris Ile-de-France.
Breakdowns indicate that while fewer British visitors are showing up (a drop of 1.7%, possibly because of Brexit anxieties), visitors from the U.S., China and Japan grew dramatically. The U.S. sent 20% more, China, 29.5% and Japanese visitors were up a whopping 40%.
