While the images of riots followed by looting traveled around the world, french government intervenes in the international media to try to reassure foreign tourists and investors.
” There is a real risk “for French tourism, estimated with theAFP the director of the Paris Tourist Office, Jean-François Rial, also CEO of the Voyageurs du Monde group. ” Today in Paris, with the violence, we already have thousands of cancellations. At the beginning of July, I think that we are already around 20-25% of cancellations in Paris on international customers and I would not be surprised if these are the same figures for the whole of France. For American customers, it’s more like 15% cancellations in Paris“.
Also, in an interview granted on Tuesday to the British daily The Telegraphthe Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire wanted to reassure our neighbors across the Channel: “France is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and we will do everything to keep it that way, naturally guaranteeing the safety of all tourists on French soil.“. And the tenant of Bercy to insist: “Our British friends must be happy to visit France and have no fear. France is a safe country, France is a rule of law“, he hammered, urging travelers not to change their vacation plans.
Also on the American channel CNN, the government’s number two sent the same message to foreign investors, possibly frightened by the images of ransacked and looted shops and public buildings. “This will have no impact on French growth, on French attractiveness or on French tourism.“said Bruno Le Maire in English. “The French economy is solid, the daily life of French citizens is not threatened by what happened. We return to a calmer situation“, he added.
For her part, the Minister Delegate for Tourism Olivia Grégoire is responsible for recalling that “the peak (of the riots) has passed, that 45,000 police and gendarmes remain mobilized to restore order in a sustainable manner and that France remains a great land of welcome“. “We are part of the same approach as Bruno Le Maire at CNN and the Telegraph: that of reassuring and restoring some truths“, says one in the entourage of the minister delegate. In Bruno Le Maire’s office, we also explain that we wanted to “correct certain interpretations or readings of the event by foreign media that are not accurate“.
