Paris is open for business: French capital launches worldwide tourism drive to reassure travellers following Charlie Hebdo attacks
- France, struggling with its economy, is most visited country in the world
- French tourism states that they aren't expecting any cancellations
- Confident Paris will see increase in visitors despite terrorist attacks
Representatives of the Paris tourist industry will set off on a world tour next month to reassure visitors and agents that the French capital is safe after last week's fatal shootings by Islamist militants.
France is the most visited country in the world. Almost 85 million foreigners a year support a 150 billion euro (£120 billion) industry that delivers seven per cent of the nation's GDP, according to government figures.
In Ile-de-France, a region which includes Paris, 550,000 jobs depend on tourism, making it the country's biggest industry. The city had 47 million visitors in 2014, about half of them from abroad.
French soldiers patrol next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris; the level of alert regarding terrorism is still at its peaWe're going to the UK at the end of February, to Los Angeles in March, Italy, Spain and Germany in April, Hong Kong in May and Tokyo in June,' said Francois Navarro, managing director of the Comite Regional du Tourisme Paris Ile-de-France, a body financed by the regional government.
'Given the importance of this event we told ourselves that this was the priority - that this was what was really needed,' he added.
Prime Minister David Cameron joins other world leaders at the start of the defiant march through Paris
Armed French military on the streets at Place De La Nation; but there is set to be a tourism drive
Hundreds of thousands of people marched through Paris on Sunday in a massive show of unity and defiance in the face of terrorism that killed 17 people
In the meantime the organisation is telling embassies and tour operators that the city's museums, monuments, big stores and amusement parks have more police watching them, 'and at the airports, at this stage, it won't take longer to travel by plane even though security has been reinforced', he said.
Earlier on Monday the French government said it would deploy 10,000 soldiers on home soil by Tuesday and post almost 5,000 extra police officers.
Officials in Paris will be hoping the like of the Eiffel Tower will continue to see an influx of tourists to view it
Tourists in Paris are needed to stimulate the weak French economy, and the capital is confident the recent terror attacks will not affect this
The shooting dead of 17 people in three days marked the deadliest Islamist militant attacks in France for decades, and in any European city since 57 people were killed on London's transport system in 2005.
Navarro said his organisation had made inquiries among tour operators and travel agents around the world, and that so far there had been no impact, with no cancellations expected.
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and enjoyed by tourists from all over
So far there had been no impact from the terror attacks, with no cancellations expected; so people will be able to enjoy the likes of The Louvre
He said he was confident Paris would manage a slight increase in the number of visitors this year, with growth notably coming from the Middle East, South Korea and China.
In 2013, the vast majority of visitors to France were from other European countries, but about 3.1 million came from the United States and 1.7 million from China, according to government figures.
