Paris receives record low number of foreign visitors in H1

Paris, the most visited European capital, suffered a sharp decline in number of visitors over the first half of the year compared to the same period a year ago due to terror attacks, strikes and floods, official data showed on Tuesday.

"Tourism activity is affected by attacks in Paris, Brussels, Nice, social movements and floods. Holding the Euro 2016 was not enough to reverse this trend," the regional tourism board said in a report.

For the January-June period, the number of hotel arrivals was at 14.9 million in the Paris Ile de France region, down by 6.4 percent from the first half in 2015.

Nightly hotel stays also fell by 8.5 percent with figures of foreign holidaymakers declining by 11.5 percent and that of French tourists was down by 4.8 percent.

French capital reported the heaviest loss in the Japanese market which declined by 46.2 percent in the first half compared to last year. Visitors from Italy and China were down by 27.7 percent and 19.6 percent respectively.

Speaking to France info radio, Valletoux Frederick, president of the regional tourism board, raised the alarming bell of "such a decline in foreign tourists."

"We expect after months and months of decline, a very difficult autumn period with serious social consequences," he said.

In 2015, France drew a record high of 84.5 million foreign tourists, despite terror attacks that rocked the French capital in January and November, according to government data.

Tourism in France accounts for 7 percent of the national output and employs two million people. Endit