France Woos Mid East High Net Worth Travellers

France, the world’s leading destination for travel and tourism, which attracted more than 74 million tourists in 2009, is focusing on high-net worth travellers from the Middle East and Near East. Visitors from the region currently are just over 725,000 according to the state-owned French tourism body Atout France. While 2008 was a very good year for tourist arrivals to France, there was a drop of six per cent in the first half of 2009 from the Middle East.

Travellers from the Middle East and Near East are high contributors to the tourism revenue of France. But they account for just two per cent of the country’s total tourist arrivals. The average stay of tourists from the region is 11 days which is among the longest of all travellers to France. Visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) dominate the share of outbound travellers from the Middle and Near East with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait contributing the highest numbers.