News Summary

Tourism and France

"France is wonderful, but it would be even better without the French"

Article: http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/french-plan-to-become-tourist-friendly/story-e6frfq80-1226681690799

1. Briefly summarize the issue. 

France has held the number one position for most visited country for a couple of years now. However, even though tourism plays such a huge roll in France's economy, providing 11% of all employment and more than 7% of the country's GDP, not a lot of tourists spend much money while in France.
France has a reputation for having a stubborn attitude towards tourists, and though this is part of the experience of traveling to France, it turns many people away from spending time and money there. According to the article, there has been a lot of movement towards making France, more specifically Paris, more tourist friendly, in hopes of persuading tourists into returning and spending more while visiting.

2. Relate the issue to one or more of the economic concepts we have discussed in class.

Lately in class, we have talked about the impact of tourism on an economy and the effects of tourism on the hosting culture. 

When reading this article, I found a lot of resonating similarities between the effort towards making France more tourist friendly and the message that I took away from A Fez of The Heart; which was that tourism can have such a great influence on the economy, that people are willing to make adjustments to their own culture in order to accommodate for the visitors. 

Throughout the reading, I also found a few connections between the impacts of tourism and the economy of France. As said earlier, tourism is a huge industry for France. This article talks about how there are certain aspects that could help optimize the attraction to the country in order to increase the economy and make the tourism industry of France more beneficial. 

3.  What led to this situation? Can you suggest a resolution to this problem?

This article does an excellent job in pin pointing exactly what the problems where and some possible solutions, some of which include:

• Decreased value in tourism: people will only travel to France for a short period of time, such as a weekend, and will usually continue traveling to other European capitals. A possible solution to this was to draw tourists to other parts of the country, and to persuade regions to work together as partners, and not competitors. 
• France is also known for the high rate of petty crime, such as pit pocketing that is prevalent around the city; it is so prevalen
  t, in fact, that it has become one of the things the city is most known for. As a solution, Parisians are hoping to raise awareness to tourists, and have train their police department in more than six languages, to help tourists deal with issues ensued by such crimes. 
  Another solution that I found throughout the article was the increased influence towards french hospitality. The Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with the Regional Tourism Committee created a guide for people called "Do You Speak Tousite?" to help cross certain cultural and linguistic bridges.
• Another one of the most common complaints about France is the lack of garbage bags. To some this is a "sign of how the French can sometimes ignore the comfort of tourists." in the words of one of the chairs of the Tourism Committe, "A tourist has come 7000 kilometres to see the Champs-Elysees, the most beautiful avenue in the world, that embodies France and its prestige and its influence in the world and there isn't a garbage can,".
• .And finally, one of the most surprising hassles of Paris is struggling to find a good meal at any given hours. According to the article, the French are incredibly rhythmic. Lunch is from 12 to 2 and dinner is served from 8 to 10. This habit can be incredibly bothersome for a tourist, who may be used to a different eating schedule, or has been jet lagged due to travel.