Why tourists still have a passion for Paris
Boris is going to choke on his crumpet. Figures published this week show that France has retained its status as the world's top tourist
destination, with 83 million foreign visitors in 2012, and Paris
remains the most visited city in the world with 33 million tourists a
year, half of which were foreign visitors. This, of course, means a
massive influx of revenues, estimated by the French government's tourism
arm, DGCIS, at £31bn for 2012.
As years go by, with France and its capital doggedly staying at the top of tourism charts, observers cannot refrain from expressing bewilderment. After all, Paris is no more the cultural capital that it was in the 1900s, the 1920s or even just after the war when it briefly regained its intellectual supremacy between 1944 and 1954. It is no more the beacon of civilisation. By comparison, cities like London, Berlin, Shanghai, Buenos Aires and a good other dozen feel more vibrant, modern and exciting. So why is Paris staying at the top?
The idea of Paris – passion, blood, violence, moral ambiguity, heroism, cowardice, dazzling minds, mesmerising motion pictures, architectural audacity, style as ethos – is one of the most potent there has been in modern history. It is what drives throngs of people to its river banks. Thousands of authors regularly tackle this subject, and books about Paris will probably line bookshelves for decades to come. Paris is powerful, a precipitate of humanity and civilisation. It deals all at once with revolution and the birth of modern democracy.The reality may of course disappoint many elevated visitors – it's bound to – and some Japanese tourists, suffering from the "Paris Syndrome", must be repatriated every year, shocked as they are at the difference between what they dreamt and what they found. However, the majority of visitors still find here and there traces of what they sought, and keep coming back.
In comparison, the experience of London is starkly different. Expectations are not necessarily high, and the city's image is certainly blurred. There has been too much cacophony in its making to offer one coherent idea to the world. So the reality of London is proportionally much more alluring than the idea we might have conceived of it.
Today though, the affluent Chinese bourgeoisie is in love with Paris as with no other city. Due to Britain's visa restrictions and high costs, they have simply struck off London from their European tour, and chosen Paris instead. France, belonging to the Schengen area, with another 25 European countries, offers easy and relatively cheap visa procedures to the 1.4 million Chinese visitors who flock to Paris. These new visitors have become a regular fixture on the Left Bank.
Every day, Parisians crossing the river Seine near Notre Dame can see Chinese brides in full Chantilly lace gowns, being photographed for what will undoubtedly become highly coveted photo albums back home. Parisians may bemoan the never-ending onslaught of tourists with new expressions: "Paris is becoming like Venice! Mass tourism is the new barbarism!", but the Paris mayor is laughing all the way to the bank. This surely must make Boris weep at night.
As years go by, with France and its capital doggedly staying at the top of tourism charts, observers cannot refrain from expressing bewilderment. After all, Paris is no more the cultural capital that it was in the 1900s, the 1920s or even just after the war when it briefly regained its intellectual supremacy between 1944 and 1954. It is no more the beacon of civilisation. By comparison, cities like London, Berlin, Shanghai, Buenos Aires and a good other dozen feel more vibrant, modern and exciting. So why is Paris staying at the top?
The idea of Paris – passion, blood, violence, moral ambiguity, heroism, cowardice, dazzling minds, mesmerising motion pictures, architectural audacity, style as ethos – is one of the most potent there has been in modern history. It is what drives throngs of people to its river banks. Thousands of authors regularly tackle this subject, and books about Paris will probably line bookshelves for decades to come. Paris is powerful, a precipitate of humanity and civilisation. It deals all at once with revolution and the birth of modern democracy.The reality may of course disappoint many elevated visitors – it's bound to – and some Japanese tourists, suffering from the "Paris Syndrome", must be repatriated every year, shocked as they are at the difference between what they dreamt and what they found. However, the majority of visitors still find here and there traces of what they sought, and keep coming back.
In comparison, the experience of London is starkly different. Expectations are not necessarily high, and the city's image is certainly blurred. There has been too much cacophony in its making to offer one coherent idea to the world. So the reality of London is proportionally much more alluring than the idea we might have conceived of it.
Today though, the affluent Chinese bourgeoisie is in love with Paris as with no other city. Due to Britain's visa restrictions and high costs, they have simply struck off London from their European tour, and chosen Paris instead. France, belonging to the Schengen area, with another 25 European countries, offers easy and relatively cheap visa procedures to the 1.4 million Chinese visitors who flock to Paris. These new visitors have become a regular fixture on the Left Bank.
Every day, Parisians crossing the river Seine near Notre Dame can see Chinese brides in full Chantilly lace gowns, being photographed for what will undoubtedly become highly coveted photo albums back home. Parisians may bemoan the never-ending onslaught of tourists with new expressions: "Paris is becoming like Venice! Mass tourism is the new barbarism!", but the Paris mayor is laughing all the way to the bank. This surely must make Boris weep at night.
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