Chinese tourists flock to France, not UK

Armand2REP

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How France is benefiting from Chinese tourists over Britain



The number of Chinese visitors to France jumped by more than 23 per cent last year, new figures show, in the latest sign the country is trouncing Britain in attracting the highly-prized Asian customers.

The figures released this week by the French government's tourism arm, DGCIS, came amid claims that visa rules for Chinese people coming to Britain are "colonial" and costing the country up to £5 million per day.

France retained its pole tourism ranking in 2012 with 83 million foreign visitors bringing in a total 35.8 billion euros (£31 billion) in revenue. Britain was ranked seventh in the tourism league table, with just under 30 million foreign visitors.


Chinese visitors to France rocketed by 23.3 per cent in 2012 to reach 1.4 million

The statistics were released just as Simon Thomas, chief executive of the Hippodrome Casino in London's West End, branded the UK visa system "bureaucratic madness".

"Chinese tourists can fill out a relatively simple form to get a Schengen visa for 26 European countries, yet have an incredibly complicated process to get a UK visa, so many of them don't bother," Mr Thomas said.

The UK China Visa Alliance, a lobbying group made up of retailers hoping to force change, has claimed the rules are costing Britain around £1.2 billion each year.

The French figures came a month after the Shanghai-based Hurun Report placed France first among China's 2.8 million dollar millionaires, with Britain in fifth place.

"Let's be perfectly clear, this is a competition with London, this is a battle between cities. Our goal is that Chinese visitors come to Paris, stay for longer and spend more money," François Navarro, spokesperson for the Ile-de-France regional tourist authority, recently said.
"Of course, we prefer that Chinese tourists come to spend their money in Galeries Lafayette and not in Harrods," he told the Observer.
Last October, French authorities created a joint visa office in Beijing with the Germans to further fast track Chinese visitors' travel document requests. It claims the number of visas has risen by 20 per cent since then.

The high figures for France come despite a spate of recent thefts and muggings involving Chinese nationals, the latest being an apparently racist attack on wine students near Bordeaux.

Now the police are cracking down – 200 officers have been specially recruited to protect tourists this summer while a new guide – in several languages – warns visitors about pickpockets in the metro and gangs of youths who pretend to be deaf and dumb and raising money for apparently reputable organisations.

The manual, called 'Do You Speak Tourist?', claims that Chinese visitors spend 40 per cent of their holiday budget shopping, mostly for luxury goods.

That compares to seven per cent for Britons.

It says the Chinese want "luxury shopping above all" and "have an idealised and romantic vision of Paris."

"A simple smile and a bonjour in their own language will keep them more than satisfied," it suggests.

How France is benefiting from Chinese tourists over Britain - Telegraph
 

roma

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france has recently made it very much easier for indian citizens who have studied to master level or above at a french university to easily get long-term visas to that great nation for business or indeed for holiday - this is a great and intelligent move by France in comparison to the UK which is making visas almost impossible to obtain except for the already wealthy indians ....... Vive La France !

French should be made more readily available as a language to study in indian schools !
 

Armand2REP

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I just find it funny when so many Chinese learn English, but don't want to go there even when there is a backlash against Chinese tourists in France. :laugh:
 

nimo_cn

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I just find it funny when so many Chinese learn English, but don't want to go there even when there is a backlash against Chinese tourists in France. :laugh:
the first English speaking coutry comes into my mind would be America Instead of Britain.

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Armand2REP

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the first English speaking coutry comes into my mind would be America Instead of Britain.

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I would think so, but the US doesn't see any more Chinese visitors than we do and most of theirs are visiting the diaspora. We have none.
 

t_co

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I just find it funny when so many Chinese learn English, but don't want to go there even when there is a backlash against Chinese tourists in France. :laugh:
There's a backlash against Chinese tourists in France? Let's not stitch up one or two incidents, shall we.

Personally, I never felt as at home in a foreign country as I did in Paris. Nantes was beautiful as well; it was fun to donate money to and march with the UDB while the French were pissing away what goodwill they had assaulting a girl in a wheelchair on the Olympic Torch Relay.
 

t_co

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I would think so, but the US doesn't see any more Chinese visitors than we do and most of theirs are visiting the diaspora. We have none.
There is a sizeable Chinese diaspora in France. Not as large as the US, but it's there - most of them are politically Vietnamese or SE Asian, but ethnically Chinese.

As for Sino-US tourism, a large, large part of it is related to education (visiting colleges) and gambling (Las Vegas/Atlantic City).
 

Armand2REP

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There is a sizeable Chinese diaspora in France. Not as large as the US, but it's there - most of them are politically Vietnamese or SE Asian, but ethnically Chinese.

As for Sino-US tourism, a large, large part of it is related to education (visiting colleges) and gambling (Las Vegas/Atlantic City).
If they aren't from China, they aren't Chinese diaspora.

Student visa is not a tourist visa. I know Chinese like to gamble, they go to pathetic Casinos as far as Marianas. I asked why would you come all this way? Because Macao steals so maybe I win here. :lol:

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Barak2

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This should be in our knowledge because we usually go to these places if we see in general the way you it all works has to be there for us to understand. The way you have talked is helpful.
 

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