PARIS (Reuters) – France is hoping to get up to 67 billion euros ($72.42 billion)worth of revenues from foreign tourists in 2023, beating last year’s figure of 58 billion, French Tourism Minister Olivia Gregoire said on Tuesday.
France is the world’s most visited country for tourists, and tourism accounts for around 8% of French gross domestic product.
“We have had a very good summer,” Gregoire told reporters.
Gregoire said that, based on current estimates, the final figures for revenues generated from foreign tourists in 2023 should come in between 64-67 billion euros.
The global tourism and travel sector has bounced back over the past two years, as countries came out of lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aviation executives and analysts told Reuters last month that the numbers of North American tourists thronging the streets of Europe’s top destinations were set to fuel healthy earnings for airlines this quarter and onwards.
($1 = 0.9252 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alison Williams)
