While tourism in France has suffered a decline of 2.5 percent during the past summer, visitor numbers have fallen by much more in Paris and along the Riviera, the two regions hardest hit by terror attacks over the last 13 months.
France’s statistical office, INSEE, said that overnight stays in Paris fell by 12.7 percent compared to 2015, while in Provence-Alpes-Côte- d’Azur the decline in summer visitors was 8.6 percent, with a marked fall in July, shortly after the June 23 Bastille Day atrocity in Nice that took 86 lives.
The only bright spots were rural areas, as visitors avoided cities and towns, with an average increase of 2.7 percent. French visitors were less likely be deterred overall than visitors from other countries, INSEE found.
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