Poor Americans avoid Paris

Paris is missing its Americans. Visitors from the United States stayed 20 percent fewer nights in the French capital in the first six months of the year. It's nothing personal says the Tourist Office. The high euro and US economic trouble is being blamed.

But politics were clearly behind the 6.7 percent fall in Chinese visitors [table below]. Beijing travel agencies took France off their brochures in April in an anti-French boycott after the hostile reception in Paris for the Olympic torch.

The Japanese were also down eight percent, contributing to a an overall 2.6 percent drop in nights spent by foreign travellers in the French capital. Paris remains the world's most visited city and and tourists from the French provinces more than compensated for the first slide in foreign stays for years.

The owners of the expanding supply of ultra-luxury hotels are gleeful over the 14 percent rise of rich visitors from the Gulf states. Hotels in the "golden triangle", between the Avenue Montaigne and the Champs Elysées, are making a special effort to meet their late night and late-rising habits. A couple of cinemas in the district are doing well from showing Arabic films late at night. A Saudi prince paid 15,000 euros to have the Elysées-Biarritz theatre ship in a new film and show it to his friends at three am, according to Hugues Piketty, the cinema director.

Jean-Bertrand Bros, the Deputy Mayor for tourism, says that the outlook is rosy. The flow from traditional tourist nations may slow further, but they are being replaced by a surge from the BRIC powers -- Brazil, Russia, India and China. Wherever they come from, they all want to see the three top monuments: the Eiffel Tower, the Sacré Coeur basilica and the Louvre.

Students of the Paris mentality should have a have a look at an internet site which collects amusing snippets of conversations heard around town. It's called Entendu à Paris (Heard in Paris) and is modelled on the popular Overheard in New York. It does not yet have anything like quantity of entries on that site, but there are a few funny glimpses of the Paris mentality.

Take for example the line heard between two fifty-something women in the posh Bois de Boulogne at 12.37 pm on August 4. "How can you admire Marie-Claude? She has made a complete mess of her life. She lives in the provinces."  People do still talk like that.

Here's the league table of main visiting countries. The Russians, who number about 200,000 a year, were counted in "other Europeans" which are not on this summary from the Tourist Office. The British have long been the biggest visitors, especially since the Eurostar tunnel express brought London closer in 1994.   

Comments

[Terry]

"It's nothing personal says the Tourist Office. The high euro and US economic trouble is being blamed."

The economic trouble is really NOT that bad here. Those who are in foreclosure trouble were never coming to Paris in the first place. However, the euro does make the cost very prohibitive to an already overpriced city. Need I even remind anyone here about a certain dinner at Closerie. Another point, the air fares to France have really shot up more than other European countries. So, a number of my friends have went to Costa Rica, Mexico etc where they get more bang for their buck.

We were going to Paris this summer but my wife had to go and get herself pregnant.

[Roger Goodacre]

I wonder whether politics, and specifically the Olympic torch incident, can really be the prime reason for the drop in Chinese visitor numbers? The figures given are for the period to the end of June 2008, the torch brouhaha occurred in early April, so at most it would have affected numbers in June and then only if most Chinese groups had cancelled at the last minute (with all the costs that would have incurred).

Tourism statistics in my experience should always be treated with a certain amount of caution, because the methods of 'data capture' are not always reliable and vary enormously from country to country.

For example, now that hotel guests in France are no longer obliged to complete a 'fiche hôtelière' to be submitted to the police, there must be an element of guesswork about the origin of some visitors.

I see that the table forecasts no change in the volume of visitor numbers from the UK for the second half of the year and an overall increase for 2008. However, the pound has weakened by some 15% in the last few weeks, and anecdotal evidence suggests that Brits are travelling less this summer and certainly spending less.

[azloon]

[So, a number of my friends have went to Costa Rica...} Terry

'have gone' :)

and stand up straight!

(signed)

your mother

[Dominique]

Come on Terry, you can make it!

We need your money at the Closerie!

[John]

Charles Bremner, something you may not have realized when you wrote this article is that these figures are essentially meaningless because they concern only the administrative City of Paris. They do not include hotels located beyond the administrative borders of the City of Paris. Problem is, nearly half of the tourists who come to Paris do not stay in hotels within the administrative borders of the city proper, so those figures don't mean much.

Drop in American tourists? It could just be the case that more American tourists decide to stay in the cheaper hotels located beyond the Périphérique, we cannot conclude that there are less American tourists coming to Paris overall. Staying in an Hôtel Ibis just on the other side of the Périphérique is enough to have you disappear from the figures you posted here.

If you want to write an article with the real tourism figures for Paris, you have to look at figures that cover all of Greater Paris. These you can find on the INSEE Île-de-France website. They publish tourism figures for Greater Paris all year round.

Concerning the Chinese, the vast majority of them do not stay in hotels inside the administrative borders of the City of Paris. Many of the Chinese tours decide to stay in the hotels located near Dysneyland Paris, so again these figures for the City of Paris proper are meaningless.

Here you can find tourism figures for Greater Paris in 2007:
http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/themes/don_cadrage/bes2007/bes07_eco07.pdf

As you can see, the number of Chinese tourists staying in hotels in Greater Paris already declined in 2007, before all the 'boycott France' stuff, so if it appears the number of Chinese tourists also declined in 2008, it's probably not linked (or feebly linked) to a supposed boycott, as the media love to portray things, but it seems more like a trend that started in 2007 already.

INSEE Île-de-France hasn't published figures for the 1st semester of 2008 yet. They have only published figures from January to April 2008. The "nuitées" (nights spent) of international tourists in Greater Paris actually increased during the four first months of 2008. For May and June we don't have figures yet. So the decline that you saw in the City of Paris proper seems more a case of foreign tourists moving to cheaper hotels just across the Périphérique.

You can see figures for January and February 2008 here:
http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/prodser/pub_elec/faits_et_chiffres/fc173.html

and for April and May 2008 here:
http://www.insee.fr/fr/insee_regions/idf/themes/faits_et_chiffres/fc179/fc179.pdf

[Thanks, as always John. These figures are for the city of Paris. They show relative decline or rise against the previous six months, as collected by INSEE. The city council and tourism board found them meaningful enough to present them to the world with some fanfare this week. CB]

[Dodo]

"It's nothing personal says the Tourist Office. The high euro and US economic trouble is being blamed."

The economic trouble seems to be so bad that USA became a cheap destination for the French. :)
http://tinylink.com/?6dYDaBgxYn

C'est pour rire, mais ça fait du bien de provoquer un peu, chacun son tour.

[dot king]

Dodo your link doesn't work . . .

Terry: I have American friends and acquaintances who aren't coming to use their French houses because of the $ / € rate; one woman here has let her house until things improve - ie indefinitely probably.
Those who live here and transfer money from the USA are finding their "regular" amount considerably lower and variable with it.

[rocket]

Roger

"However, the pound has weakened by some 15% in the last few weeks." Unfortunately not true. Over the past few months the pound to euro has remained relatively stable. However over the past 2 years, yes there has been a downward movement in the value of the pound to the euro by about 15%

http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory

Terry

"We were going to Paris this summer but my wife had to go and get herself pregnant."

Do you know who the father is? (LOL)

or is your wife hermaphrodite ? (double LOL)

Anyway that chicken is now 6% less expensive than the last time you came because of forex but inflation has driven it up at least 3%

[Dodo]

Dodo your link doesn't work . . .

Sorry, let try the french minilien,

http://minilien.com/?CXAR5cM9DI

It work better, of course

[John]

CB wrote: "The city council and tourism board found them meaningful enough to present them to the world with some fanfare this week."

Of course the city council and tourism board would present them and find them meaningful. They are legally constrained to do so by France's outdated administrative structure. It's you, as a journalist, who has to separate meaningless information from meaningful information.

Look, for instance, the City of London borough also no doubt publishes figures for the numbers of tourists who stayed in hotels in the City of London, because that's what they are legally constrained to do, because that's the territory they administer, but you as a journalist wouldn't report these figures as "tourism in London", you would look for tourism figures for the whole of Greater London and not just Westminster.

It's not any different in Paris. Figures for the entire Greater Paris are easily available: you have INSEE Île-de-France, you have the Observatoire du Tourisme en Île-de-France (ORTIF), you have the regional council of Île-de-France. They all publish tourism figures for the entire Greater Paris, with no less fanfare than the City of Paris proper.

[Giligulu]

Those Chinese who boycott anything French are so irrational, ignorant and nationalistic....it doesn't benefit them at all, and it hurts their compatriots who work for French companies. Chinese nationalism is starting to look like Nazism....

[Daisy]

Have faith! The US$ is on its way back up so soon the Yanks will be filling up Paris again and the French will have a chance to whine about them again :) However, if you live in Europe you may want to get your shopping trip to NY done soon.

Terry: Hey, a screaming kid in the house might be good incentive to swim to France.

[Don]

When one refers to the "Poor Americans" one should realize that this is highly subjective and
essentially meaningless. On a per capita income basis, which is not subjective, the United States ranks #6 in the world with Britain, Germany and France ranking, respectively, #20, #21 and #23. [All the countries that rank higher are very small countries with unique economic situations like Qatar, Norway etc.).

( ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita )

For some reason, when the Americans are having some problems with their economy, many Europeans like to refer to the Americans in a disparaging way.

[John]

@Giligulu: the number of Chinese tourists declined already in 2007, so it doesn't seem to be related to any sort of boycott. Here are the figures for Greater Paris:
2006: 458,000 Chinese tourists
2007: 425,000 Chinese tourists

The Paris Olympic torch relay incidents happened only in April 2008, after the number of Chinese tourists had already started to decline.

Dot:

"Terry: I have American friends and acquaintances who aren't coming to use their French houses because of the $ / € rate;"

Yeah, the exchange rate turns an expensive vacation into an extraordinarilly expensive one. (Azloon, the grammar nanny can check that one-it keeps him busy at least). You really get hit with it at all ends the airfare, housing, food, car, coca cola. I noticed even French beggars are getting more. Then you add in the exchange rate and then it gets to be a bit over the top. Where did your American friends wind up going?

Daisy:

"Terry: Hey, a screaming kid in the house might be good incentive to swim to France."

If the screaming russians keep at it, several thousand other Americans and I may be swimming ashore again at Normandy.

Ive been told to start sleeping now. The stork is due 1/3/09.

Dominique:

"Come on Terry, you can make it!

We need your money at the Closerie!"

Are you busing tables again, Dominique? I thought you worked at Keller's.

Rocket said:

"Anyway that chicken is now 6% less expensive than the last time you came because of forex but inflation has driven it up at least 3%"

Let's see, 75 euros for one skinny, bland French chicken, less 6%, that's 71.5 euros but up 3%. that's 2.45 euros. that's nearly 74 euros.

According to my calculations, let's see, THAT'S TOO @#$#%#@ MUCH!

BTW: I am still awaiting the DNA results.

[joelle]

French beggars definitely getting more since switch to Euro. The old boy near here was always politely grateful to get 2 francs and overjoyed with 5. Now you get abuse if it's anything less than a Euro. Personally I haven't had a payrise in 10 years so it does irk somewhat.

[Dodo]

Dixit by ... “If the screaming russians keep at it, several thousand other Americans and I may be swimming ashore again at Normandy.”

The same old rengaine :

We are in Yorktown when you need us, you are in Normandie when we need you

[Rick]

If France fails to support erstwhile Soviet bloc states on Monday, some of us will bid Paris a fond adieu – for good. I note in passing that opinion pieces in ‘Die Welt’ and ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’ have pointed out that the age is unheroic in which we fear ‘men of straw’. Come to think of it, that’s what Paris’ gastronomic delights would taste of.

[Lily]

Re: anonymous poster

Poor American has lost his/her name!

Help! Nameless poor American urged by the stork's arrival to find even more names (boy's? girl's? both?).

[Pierre]

"Entendu à Paris" doesn't seem much different from the famous (in France) "Brèves de comptoirs" compiled for years by Jean-Marie Gourio (although thoe were perhaps chose more "loufoques" and "absurd").

[Maggie]

"The stork is due 1/3/09." (Terry)

Is that the first of March, or the third of January?

(Just checking.)

[Dominique]

Don,

The CB article was about Paris, not France nor Europe.

Interesting figures show the GDP per person is depending on where you live within a country :

http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?ref_id=cmrsos08114&id=481

If Ile de France (Paris region) was singled out as a country, it would be 43K€ and ranked higher.

That was just to remind you that the first who suffer this situation are the average french who can't afford Paris...Foreigners are usually blamed for this, especially in the real estate sector. We hardly hear people "refer to the Americans in a disparaging way." Usually quite the opposite...

[dot king]

Anonymous Terry,
"Where did your American friends wind up going?"

The ones I was thinking of live here and go back to the States from time to time, but money is transferred over, pensions etc, and these monies fluctuate perforce as the $ollar fluctuates against the €uro.
I have some other American friends in a similar situation.
I believe this affects Brits as well, exchange rates, commissions, what have you. Only the banks get rich :)

[christopher muir]

All countries will be affected one way or another by unpredictatable exchange rates as they beckon tourists to their resorts. Add to that the rising cost of aviation fuel alongside evolving international tensions. You then have an economic recipe to trouble the minds of all tourism operators. Top Paris hotels' future balance sheets could be dictated to by a skirmish beside a very distant Black Sea port called Poti.

[Terry]

Hmmm. My name was erased again. So much for "Remember personal info?"

MAGGIE:

January 3, 2009. But Im trying to get the stork to deliver before 2008 ends so I get the tax deduction for the entire year.

DOT:

I was just wondering where they were vacationing instead of France. Some Americans are staying home. But most are finding cheaper destinations. England is worse than France I believe right now.

LILLY:

We know it will be a girl. Eva Catherine Zuckerman. "E" for my wife's father who passed. Catherine for my grandmother.

[Terry]

Rocket:

"Do you know who the father is? (LOL)

or is your wife hermaphrodite ? (double LOL)"

I knew someone wouldnt be able to resist. I just didnt know who'd be first, you or the Arizona bird.

LOL.

[thinknoworpaylater]

TERRY - pregnant - how careless of you! I hope your activities in yhe legal system are handled more carefully. In fact as someone else said the rest of France is generally much cheaper - hotels food everything: and usually warmer south of the Loire!

[Daniel Strohl]

TERRY,

Coud have been me, but I DID resist :)

[Lily]

Terry -

Eva Catherine Z. sounds pretty - though I guessed that for a girl you would have chosen Ayn. ;) -
You could still add another name.

[qwerty]

If Terry is an attorney, would he know something about Connecticut laws applying to abeyant estates? I need info re: persons missing at sea presumed dead; how long before legally declared dead and who winds up the estate (a tribunal?); what happens to their estate if there seems to be no next of kin; how do they look for the next of kin, do genealogists usually do this?

[azloon]

Terry --

it briefly crossed my mind, but, uncharacteristically, i demurred....

and besides, this having kids 'deal' is serious stuff. the big positive for you: you won't have to wonder what you'll be doing for the next 20 years. big positive for us: you won't have the time or energy for spreading your dangerous propaganda on the blog. oh, yeah, and you can start planning your next paris vacation for the summer of 2028.

:)

p.s. surely, you must have some opinion about sarah palin, our mooseburger-chomping, assault-rifle toting, hockey 'mum' who is mccain's vp choice. it's no wonder many europeans think the u.s. is such a goofy place. you really couldn't invent this woman. she's stranger than fiction. (answer this quickly before you have regular 3 a.m. feedings that are nudging you to the edge of madness.)

p.p.s is you wife a more reasonable sort than you, more open-minded, reflective? so that Eva Catherine gets both sides to the story.

[rocket]

Very interesting and true report on the Japanese in Paris today on M6 tv

Les docs de l'été - Une été à Paris

available on

M6replay.fr

report starts at 56 minutes52seconds

It's worth the 10 minute watch

[Gill]

Rocket, unfortunatlely for some of us the M6 link you mentioned is available only to French residents.

[rocket]

Gill,

Here's a different report on Dailymotion but same subject

http://tinyurl.com/6rtdmt

The M6 report was a bit more complete. I will try to find out if there is a possibility to download this the M6 report

[qwerty]

Azloon took the words out of my mouth about Ms Palin (aka "Annie Get Your Gun" & "Calamity Jane"). She is also a creationist and a hunter. She personifies everything I've never understood about the US.

You've already had 8 years with a born-again, God-appointed (he says) President who's made the most incredibly ill-inspired decisions - what's McCain thinking of? VPs sometimes become Presidents, especially if the President in office is not very young and has serious health problems.

Moreover, choosing her was an insult to women - implying that female voters for Hillary Clinton will necessarily vote for McCain because he took a woman on his ticket.

[Daniel Strohl]

AZLOON,

"you really couldn't invent this woman"

I read yesterday in a French blog that the lady you mention is called "Barracuda".

If this is true, you should absolutely avoid to go swimming in Alaskan waters to observe loons, your favourite bird species :)

It would be much safer for you to paddle in the Colorado river, as long as you stay at a safe distance from some rusty dams ...

PS : We had long discussions last year regarding Ségolène. She now gets strong competition from another lady, Martine Aubry, for the job of Premier Secrétaire du Parti Socialiste to replace Hollande whose almost 11 years stint will be terminated in a few months.

Both ladies are known for their strong will and the fight will be fierce. However, there is (as always) a problem : they do not box at all in the same weight category :)

[richard.jones]

As per Qwerty the Palin choice does not look a particularly inspired one.
If McCain were to die in office he would be replaced by a three year - in a 4 year term? - executive branch (governor) woman. Given that the 2008 (44th) president will almost certainly have to make some of the most unpopular decisions for over 60 years in terms of economics and social welfare, national security and global power, broken internal politics - eg electoral college and loony lobbyists. John McCain with the age implication of not running again has reasonable validity as a presidential choice. I perceive Ms. Palin cracks that image and will make the choice for Republicans and independents, especially ladies, because of not only the 'replacement risk' but also the 'relect for a second term risk' where the candidate would be Palin.
The last risk with Palin is that she would become an honorific VP and that rather than into her office, a large amount of delegated special project work would descend on somebody else giving them enormous power within the McCain administration: power for which they have not been elected and a process within the Republican ethos that could lead to another Chainey saw massacre power grouping within the White House.
I think this was going to be a close election anyway and, for once, the VP choice would be a factor, I think the Republicans have made the worst of the two VP decisions and unless Big Mouth Biden really screws it up before November or Obama confuses himself by 'talking real not rhetoric', then McCain cannot win, Palin was a bad choice - Romney would have been far better, just as Richardson with the latino handshake and foreign policy experience would have been better for Obama.

[Gill]

Rocket,
Thanks for the second link. It would be interesting to know whether this syndrome also occurs in other large cities around the world where perhaps the reality for long-term residents does not match the romantic version of a city given in tourist information. I suppose any nationality in a big city might be affected as it can be rather lonely for a newcomer. Perhaps the Japanese are particularly affected because in Japan the have very tight family structures - a protection they don't have abroad.

[azloon]

DANIEL

sarah 'barracuda' was a tenacious basketball player in her high school years and thus earned her moniker. it's amusing what names we take out of childhood: dr. gyneco .... sarah barracuda. i wonder if there was ever a chance for the two of them. highly doubtful.

she was also runner-up in the miss alaska beauty pagent and later a tv sportscaster. she says she now deliberately tries to hide her 'looks' by dressing as a librarian ('bun' on top, black eyeglasses, 'frumpy' clothes.

i actually kind of like this woman's story, and her grit. what puts me off are the implications of her becoming president and having the power to appoint supreme court justices. bush has already seriously damaged the credibility of the court, and she would, imo, finish it off with 'pro-life' appointments (as tho the rest of us are pro-death) who support her view that abortion, even in the case of incest or rape, should be illegal. i admire her for living her own beliefs (she recently gave birth to a down-syndrome child even after knowing this in utero). but i don't want those beliefs thrust on me.

i do wonder what she was thinking when she allowed herself to get pregnant at age 44, tho perhaps she and her husband were trying to get pregnant. if so, it seems as tho they were pushing their luck.

p.s. down syndrome children are, in my experience, delightful human beings with wonderful spirits, full of affection for others. i am certain their child will receive the love and care that many other human beings can only dream of.... and will contribute more to the greater well-being of the planet than many of us.

[rocket]

Richard

"Romney would have been far better"

Do you mean far better to really sink McCain.

Sorry but he's a Mormon. That still doesn't play well in the US. Just look at his primary results. Secondly he's a gazillionaire and the left (oops! Dems) would have been on him like flies on.... (well you know!)

MCCain is not a millionaire. His wife is.

IMHO- An excellent choice for VP by McCain.

[dot king]

"Both ladies are known for their strong will and the fight will be fierce. However, there is (as always) a problem : they do not box at all in the same weight category :)"
Daniel Strohl

Oh, Daniel, unworthy! I'm surprised at you! (well, not really:))

[azloon]

{MCCain is not a millionaire. His wife is.] Red Rocket (as in 'red state,' not as in red rudy--:))

if the wife has $100 million, then the husband has one million (thus a millionaire), i assure you. he gets that much every year in his 'allowance.' but essentially you are correct, the mega bucks are not his.

these senators (kerry before mccain) have a way of making sure that their increasingly expensive campaigns can be bankrolled by their rich wives. i think sarko may have taken his cue from these guys.

for other guys, its something else. my hillbilly-physician friend from arkansas likes to say he's looking for an edentulous* nymphomaniac whose father owns a liquor store.

*no teeth

[azloon]

p.s. cindy mccains father owned a beer distributorship but i believe her teeth are her own.

[dot king]

"edentulous*" *no teeth (Azloon)

édenté(e) sans dents

peasy cheasy that one :)

[Daniel Strohl]

DOT,

"unworthy! I'm surprised at you!"

Sorry, Dot, I couldn't resist, even if it was not really funny ...

IMHO, les deux dames ont déjà leur bâton de maréchal, l'une en tant que maire de Lille (sorry, Ijsel or Rijsel !), l'autre en tant que présidente de la région Poitou - Charente.

Il faut du sang neuf aux socialistes (je pense à Valls, dont j'ai lu une interview intéressante et sans langue de bois dans Le Point datant de 2 ou 3 mois), avec des idées adaptées à notre temps et compatibles avec celles de nos divers voisins européens. Nous ne sommes plus en 1981 et les caisses de l'état sont vides, alors qu'elles ne l'étaient pas en 1981 (mais en 1982/83, ça avait déjà changé .)

AZLOON,

"but i don't want those beliefs thrust on me" - nor would I.

PS : I like your PS.

[richard.jones]

Rocket,

Biden was a runner in the same reace as O'Bama and did badly, surely by your reasoning this would disqualify him from a VP posting!

PS - He's also an idiot which still doesn't go down too well with most people!!!!

[rocket]

Richard

"Biden was a runner in the same reace as O'Bama and did badly, surely by your reasoning this would disqualify him from a VP posting!"

Absolutely. In any case Obama should have chosen Ted Kennedy.(LOL)

Whatever the result, a member of a minority or a woman will finally have a position of power in the US.

Are you proud?