PARIS, France – France joined a tourist attraction on Tuesday, launching a multi-million euro campaign a year after being overtaken by the mostly European Covid-19s.
In 2019, the world’s leading tourist destination hopes to maintain its position among tourists keen to tour the world again after a year of national locks.
“France is like the world in miniature”, declared Tuesday Jean-Baptiste Lemoine, the youngest Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of tourism.
“It’s 50 shades during the holidays. Everyone can choose their own, ”he added.
France, which is at the end of the third severe wave of COVID-19, and France, which has overtaken the United States in vaccinations, faces stiff competition from other hotspots not affected by the ‘epidemic.
Greece praises the virtues of sunny “governmentless” islands, where everyone is vaccinated against the virus.
Croatia, for its part, has drawn a map of “no-go zones” on its islands.
On Tuesday, France launched “What Really Matters” in 10 European markets – Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland – to promote the country’s lifestyle, including including its gastronomy and its culture.
Compared to Switzerland in this campaign, tennis champion Roger Federer, led by French tourism development company Carolyn Lepoucher, said France “elicits more passion” than Switzerland’s “cold health perfection”.
France, which will reopen its bars and restaurants on May 19 after being closed for nearly seven months, is also counting on national visitors to boost its ailing tourism sector.
Lemoine urged the French to go “blue, white and red” during the holidays.
“Our tour operators have been very touched,” he pleaded.
High costs
A year before the epidemic, tourism revenues in France in 2019 amounted to ில்லியன் 57 billion ($ 70 billion), or 7.5% of GDP.
Three quarters of the tourists received by France before the health crisis were Europeans.
But this year’s competition for travelers is so intense that what should cost a lot is their first vacation abroad in over a year.
Italy, which is counting on a tourism renaissance to emerge from the deep recession, said last week it was ready to welcome travelers again.
“It’s time to book your vacation in Italy!” Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced.
Greece, Iceland and Croatia have already lifted restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers from EU countries, as well as the United States, Britain and Israel.
In contrast, France insists that EU observers and visitors from some countries, including Britain and Israel, test negative for PCR.
Visitors from most non-EU countries, including the United States, have meanwhile been officially banned from entering unless they can prove “mandatory” reasons for travel.
With the holiday season set to begin next month, pressure is mounting on the European Commission to finalize the much-anticipated EU-wide digital health pass.
This pass, which allows fully vaccinated people who already have COVID-19 or who have tested positive for the virus, is seen as an important tool in saving the summer vacation.
Although it was initially only used for travel within Europe, the EU operates on a mutually recognized basis with certificates from third countries, in particular from the United States.
President Emmanuel Macron, who last month announced a four-phase timetable for reopening the country after a third lockout, has set June 9 as the future date for non-European tourist returns.
Meanwhile, the government hopes that France will continue to use its strategic location in central Europe, which will become an easy journey by car or train for many northern Europeans.
“It is not difficult to come to France for our European neighbors, you have to take a plane or a boat to the Greek islands”, declared Didier Arino, president of Protourism Consulting.
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