France is winning the tourism race. It may still be losing the value contest.
France has the museums, the palaces, the vineyards, the ski resorts and the most recognisable capital on earth. In 2025 it welcomed 102 million international visitors — more than any other country. Yet the question facing the president elected in 2027 is not whether the world still wants France. It is whether France is prepared to convert global fascination into better experiences, longer stays, stronger regional economies and more durable value.
The latest official scorecard is both triumphant and uncomfortable. Atout France reports that international tourism receipts reached a record €77.5 billion in 2025, up 9% in a year. Average spending rose 7% to €760 per international trip. But Spain generated about €105 billion from international tourism. France receives the larger crowd; Spain extracts considerably more value.
“102 million visitors is an achievement. It is not a guarantee.”
That single comparison should define the next phase of French tourism policy. Arrival totals are politically useful. They are not a complete economic strategy.
The metric that flatters France — and the metrics that matter
An arrival count treats a weekend visitor, a cross-border trip and a two-week luxury itinerary as equivalent units. Economically, they are not equivalent. The next government should judge success through a wider dashboard:
- international receipts and spending per visitor;
- average length of stay and repeat visits;
- hotel, restaurant, retail, cultural and transport value created;
- jobs, wages and productivity;
- private investment and business creation;
- carbon intensity and pressure on residents;
- the share of tourism spending retained outside Paris and the most congested destinations;
- visitor satisfaction from arrival to departure.
This is not an argument for turning France into an enclave for the rich. Tourism policy must remain compatible with holidays for French households, accessibility and social tourism. It is an argument for recognising that a country hosting 102 million foreign visitors has a duty to understand what those visitors contribute, what they consume and how the value is distributed.
The economic stakes are substantial. The OECD’s 2026 country profile estimates tourism’s direct contribution at 3.8% of French GDP in 2023 and direct tourism employment at 1.5 million jobs in 2024. Travel exports represented 19.1% of French service exports. This is not decorative economics. Tourism is export industry conducted on French soil. Meanwhile, UN Tourism reported that global international arrivals had returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and continued growing in early 2025 — a reminder that France competes in an expanding but increasingly demanding market.
Macron’s Destination France: a fair scorecard
Emmanuel Macron’s governments did not ignore tourism. Launched in November 2021 after the pandemic shock, Destination France mobilised €1.9 billion through 2024. Its five pillars addressed talent, resilience and quality, destination assets, environmental and digital transition, and international promotion. It helped provide a framework for recovery rather than assuming tourism would repair itself.
The results deserve recognition. France recovered to 100 million international arrivals in 2024 and 102 million in 2025. Receipts reached a record. Investment recovered strongly: Atout France’s 2026 investment dashboard reports an average €21 billion invested annually between 2022 and 2024; 69% of surveyed operators said their 2024 investment supported an upgrade in quality. The plan also elevated sustainability, skills, tourism data and the management of visitor flows.
But Destination France was designed as a recovery-and-transformation plan ending in 2024. The OECD notes that policy since then has mainly followed the July 2025 Interministerial Tourism Committee roadmap. That is a useful bridge, not necessarily a sufficiently legible post-2027 doctrine.
A fair verdict is therefore possible: the Macron period restored scale, investment and confidence, and it made sustainability part of mainstream tourism policy. It did not fully solve fragmented delivery, the receipts gap with Spain, regional concentration or the gap between France’s luxury image and the everyday experience of moving through the country.
Spain is not stealing France’s crown. It is changing the definition of victory.
France remains the world leader by arrivals. Spain demonstrates why arrivals alone are an incomplete measure. In 2025 Spain recorded roughly €105 billion in international tourism receipts against France’s €77.5 billion, according to the French government’s own comparison. Eurostat also recorded 513.6 million nights in Spanish tourist accommodation in 2025, against 471.7 million in France.
The lesson is not that France must imitate Spain’s coastal model. France has a different geography, a huge domestic market and substantial cross-border traffic. The lesson is that spending, nights and experience matter. France should stop celebrating a ranking before asking what the ranking produces.
The €100 billion receipts target for 2030 is therefore strategically sound. Yet it cannot be reached by premium pricing alone. It requires better products, longer itineraries, easier regional movement, competitive aviation and rail access, stronger service skills and a public realm that protects the visitor promise.
The travellers France most wants can choose almost anywhere
High-spending American, Gulf and Asian travellers are not one homogeneous market. They differ in family structure, seasonality, language, purpose and expectations. What they share is choice.
Atout France says the United States delivered 5.5 million arrivals and €7.3 billion in receipts in 2025, making it France’s largest long-haul market by value. Affluent Chinese travellers increasingly seek high-value experiences — gastronomy, wine, skiing, culture and tailored journeys — rather than shopping alone. Gulf markets remain central to France’s premium, mountain, city and family-tourism strategies.
These travellers can also choose Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Emirates or the United States. Heritage attracts them. Friction repels them. High hotel rates may be accepted; confused arrivals, unreliable connections, avoidable queues, weak multilingual service or a degraded streetscape are less easily excused.
“Luxury tourism does not begin at the door of a five-star hotel. It begins at the airport — and continues on the pavement outside it.”
Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Orly handled almost 107 million passengers in 2025. Airports, taxi ranks, RER platforms, station forecourts and the first road into the city are not peripheral to tourism policy. They are its opening chapter. Private operators such as airport-transfer and chauffeur providers can remove friction for individual travellers, but the quality of the national gateway remains a public-and-private system responsibility.
Security, cleanliness and public order are economic infrastructure
It is possible to discuss disorder without criminalising poverty, migration or any nationality. France must do exactly that.
Homelessness is first a human and housing-policy failure. Irregular migration is a legal, administrative, diplomatic and integration challenge. Neither homeless people nor migrants constitute a uniform security threat. Yet unmanaged street homelessness, exploitative informal activity, persistent waste, harassment or unsafe encampments around transport hubs can damage dignity, resident confidence and visitor experience simultaneously.
The answer is not theatrical hostility. It is competent government: rapid lawful identification and case decisions, humane accommodation, protection for vulnerable people, enforcement against crime and exploitation, sanitation, housing capacity, integration for those entitled to remain, returns carried out under law for those who are not, and consistent public-order management.
“Governments divide problems between ministries. Tourists don’t. They experience the country as one product.”
A visitor does not separate the Interior Ministry from transport operators, a municipality, a prefecture, a social-housing agency and the tourism ministry. The visitor sees the queue, the pavement, the welcome, the lighting, the police presence, the signs and the final bill. Fragmented responsibility becomes one national impression.
Paris 2024 proved that France can deliver
The Olympics should prevent lazy pessimism. France demonstrated exceptional operational competence when the political system aligned around a measurable deadline. The Interior Ministry’s official review called the security operation an undeniable success: no sporting event was disrupted for security reasons, despite 29 competition days, 15,200 athletes and dozens of sites.
Tourism results were more nuanced — and therefore more useful. INSEE found that non-resident visitors generated 63.1 million nights in Île-de-France in 2024, up 3.4%, largely driven by short-term rentals. Visitors attending the Games spent 22% more per night than comparable 2023 visitors, excluding Games tickets and related costs. Long-haul visitors spent the most. Yet conventional collective accommodation fell, and tourism weakened before the competitions before surging during them.
The lesson is not simply “mega-events work.” It is that coordinated security, transport, information, cleanliness and hospitality can produce a high-value experience. The next president should turn that temporary command structure into normal destination management — proportionate, democratic and permanent.
Overtourism is not too many tourists everywhere. It is too much pressure in too few places.
The OECD notes that around 80% of French tourism is concentrated in 20% of the territory. That creates congestion at famous sites while destinations with exceptional assets still struggle to capture international stays.
A value strategy should not merely divert crowds. It should build complete, bookable regional experiences:
- Normandy: connect memorial heritage, Mont-Saint-Michel, coastal towns, gastronomy and longer cultural itineraries.
- Champagne and Burgundy: combine wine, crafts, heritage, rail access and responsible small-group travel.
- Loire Valley: make châteaux part of multi-night slow-tourism programmes, not only hurried day trips.
- Alsace: build year-round food, wine, cycling and cross-border experiences beyond Christmas peaks.
- Bordeaux: join city, vineyards, Atlantic coast and business events into higher-value stays.
- Provence and the French Riviera: extend seasons, manage coastal pressure and improve movement between towns.
- The Alps: accelerate four-season investment as snow reliability changes.
- Corsica: protect ecosystems and resident consent by pricing and managing capacity instead of pursuing unlimited volume.
This requires transport, distribution and international marketing. A beautiful village without bookable rail connections, trained staff, accessible information or viable year-round businesses is not yet a tourism strategy.
What the president elected in 2027 should do
1. Replace the arrivals trophy with a value dashboard
Publish quarterly measures for receipts, spending per trip, length of stay, satisfaction, regional distribution, repeat visits, investment, jobs and environmental pressure. Keep the 102 million figure — but put it in context.
2. Create a permanent tourism delivery council at prime-ministerial level
Tourism cuts across Interior, Transport, Foreign Affairs, Culture, Housing, Labour, Environment and local government. Give one body deadlines, public metrics and the authority to resolve interministerial failure.
3. Treat gateways as national shop windows
Set binding service standards for CDG, Orly, major stations and their surroundings: predictable border processing, multilingual wayfinding, luggage help, accessible connections, clean forecourts, visible security and transparent licensed transport.
4. Make public-realm quality measurable
Fund joint state-city-operator contracts around tourism zones and transport hubs. Publish cleanliness, lighting, reported-harassment, response-time and visitor-satisfaction indicators. Compassion and order are not opposites.
5. Unlock the next investment cycle
After average annual tourism investment of €21 billion in 2022–2024, 2024 moderated to €18.7 billion as recovery support ended and financing costs rose. The state should provide regulatory stability, faster permits, energy-renovation incentives and finance for viable regional projects — while refusing subsidies for low-value, environmentally destructive capacity.
6. Sell France as connected regions, not Paris plus excursions
Support multi-region itineraries, luggage logistics, direct international access, thematic rail products and stronger DMC distribution. The goal is not to weaken Paris. It is to let Paris open the door to France.
7. Invest in people
Tourism quality depends on housekeepers, chefs, receptionists, police officers, station staff, drivers, guides and seasonal workers. Housing shortages, poor career progression and skills gaps are visitor-experience problems. Training, languages, affordable worker housing and professional status belong in the tourism budget.
8. Build market strategies around needs, not stereotypes
American, Gulf and Asian visitors deserve research-based segmentation. Families, executives, students, culture travellers, shoppers, medical visitors and ultra-high-net-worth clients need different products. France should measure satisfaction and economic value by segment while guaranteeing equal treatment.
9. Manage capacity before residents reject tourism
Use reservations, timed access, mobility plans, short-let rules and seasonal pricing where pressure is excessive. Local consent is an economic asset. A tourism strategy that makes residents resent visitors will eventually make visitors feel unwelcome.
10. Commission an independent Destination France audit
Before launching another slogan, evaluate the €1.9 billion plan measure by measure: what improved productivity, sustainability, skills, regional value and visitor satisfaction? Publish the findings, preserve what worked and retire what did not.
Does France need a new tourism strategy after 2027?
Yes — but not because Destination France failed. It needs a successor because the recovery phase is over and the competitive problem has changed.
The next strategy should be less promotional and more operational. It should recognise that a tourism brand is produced daily by border controls, rail reliability, public order, hotel investment, service culture, clean streets, regional transport and the quality of political coordination.
France does not need to become more artificial, more exclusive or less French to capture greater value. It needs to make its extraordinary assets easier to experience, extend stays without exhausting places, protect residents and workers, and deliver the same standard outside a palace as inside one.
France’s lead is real. So is Spain’s revenue advantage. So is the power of American demand, the return of Asian markets and the expectations of Gulf travellers. So is the warning contained in every avoidable queue, dirty station forecourt, confusing transfer and missed regional opportunity.
102 million visitors is an achievement. It is not a guarantee.
The campaign question should therefore be put to every candidate seeking the Élysée in 2027:
“If France wants the world’s most valuable tourists, what are you going to do to make France the world’s most valuable tourism experience?”
FAQ
Is France still the world’s most visited country?
Yes. Official French figures report 102 million international visitors in 2025, up from 100 million in 2024.
How much did international tourism earn France in 2025?
International tourism receipts reached a record €77.5 billion in 2025, according to Atout France and Banque de France data cited by the French government.
Why does Spain earn more from tourism than France?
Spain generated about €105 billion in international tourism receipts in 2025. Differences in length of stay, visitor mix, accommodation use and spending patterns help explain why a country can receive fewer arrivals yet earn more.
What was Destination France?
Destination France was the €1.9 billion recovery-and-transformation plan launched in November 2021. It focused on skills, resilience and quality, assets, sustainability and digitalisation, and international promotion.
What should replace Destination France after 2027?
A post-2027 strategy should prioritise receipts, spending per visitor, length of stay, regional distribution, investment, sustainability and end-to-end visitor satisfaction rather than arrivals alone.
How can France attract more high-value tourism outside Paris?
By creating bookable multi-night itineraries, better rail and road connections, skilled local services, year-round products and international distribution for regions such as Normandy, Champagne, Burgundy, the Loire, Alsace, Bordeaux, Provence, the Riviera, the Alps and Corsica.
Official sources and methodology
This editorial analysis distinguishes verified outcomes from policy recommendations. Core figures were checked against Atout France’s 2025 balance, the French Economy Ministry, the DGE Destination France record, OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026, Eurostat, INSEE’s Paris 2024 analysis, and the Interior Ministry’s Games security review. UN Tourism’s global recovery reporting provided international context.
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