Paris feels that it is weathering the European economic crisis well. The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau recently published a list of 12 points which will help the city resist the crisis and maintain its appeal as a leading tourism destination.
The Paris tourism authorities expect the domestic market to continue to offset the weakness in demand from other European travellers. Paris’s share of the domestic market (in terms of total arrivals in hotel accommodation) has risen from 38% in 2000 to 45% in the first ten months of 2011. Paris is also confident of attracting a higher number of tourists from emerging countries – especially from the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), but also from Mexico, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
The Economic Observatory for Tourism In Paris (Observatoire Economique du Tourisme Parisien) confirms the upward trend in arrivals from markets outside the eurozone. From January to October 2011, arrivals from Switzerland were up 7.1%; those from the USA were up 4.1% and those from China up 21.7%. During this period, Paris hotels recorded a total of 13.1 million arrivals, up 3.3%.
Paris will open or refurbish a number of important attractions in 2012 and the coming years. Among them are the new layout for the expressways (‘voies exprès’) along the River Seine, with more space for pedestrians and new moorings for boats, the new European City of Cinema (May 2012) and the redesigned Islamic Arts Department of the Louvre (mid-2012). In 2013, the Picasso Museum will re-open and the LVMH Foundation for Contemporary Art will open in a stunning new structure from the American architect Franck Gehry. In 2014 will come the official opening of the Paris Philharmonic concert hall by Jean Nouvel.
Among the more prestigious exhibitions in 2012 will be ‘The Invention of the Savage’ at Museum Quai Branly, a comprehensive Dali retrospective in the Centre Pompidou National Museum of Modern Art and an exhibition on ‘Impressionism and Fashion’ in the Musée d’Orsay.
Other elements seen as positive for Paris are the London Olympic Games (which could boost Paris hotel occupancy as some visitors will be discouraged from visiting the British capital during the Games), a slight increase in total accommodation capacity in Paris in 2012, and the weakening in the value of the euro against the US dollar and other major currencies.
