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Paris: France's tourism sector probably dodged the kind of pain seen by some neighbours this summer as a jump in Middle Eastern visitors helped offset declines in US and Japanese tourists, a junior minister said on Monday.
France is the world's most visited country, and tourism generates some 6.3 per cent of its gross domestic product.
Weakness in the dollar meant fewer US tourists visited France in July and August while the Chinese preferred to stay at home because their country was hosting the Olympics, said Herve Novelli, a junior minister who oversees tourism.
Japanese visitor numbers also fell compared with the same period the previous year as their economy went through a rough patch, he said, without giving figures.
"But this fall was compensated by the arrival of foreign tourists with a strong ability to spend from the Middle East or from Russia," said Novelli.
Visitors from the Middle East jumped by an estimated 20 per cent in July and August compared with the same period a year ago, a government statement said.
"The summer of 2008 confirms in the end the solid state of French tourism and the fact that it was not very sensitive to the slowdown in the global economy," Novelli said.
Novelli did not give figures on foreign arrivals in July and August, saying only that the trends would prove "stable."
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