France receives some 84 million tourists every year who contribute 7% to the nation’s wealth and support two million jobs.
Since the 1980s, the country has been the most visited in the world.
But a recent report by a French tourism agency showed that it has earned a reputation for being unfriendly and overpriced.
Now a multimillion-euro investment will be made in tourism with the aim of making visitors feel welcomed and increasing the number of tourists to 100 million by 2020.
Foreign minister Laurent Fabius said that the fund would be launched this autumn. "Tourism is a national treasure that needs to be protected, nurtured and developed – that's the aim of all these measures," he said.
The report recognised that France’s welcome “is below par”.
Referring to a French "paradox", the report said: "The country is considered a must-see destination where expectations are high … but satisfaction ratings are 30% below the European average in terms of price-quality ratio."
Visitors using TripAdvisor voted Paris the rudest city in Europe, while other research has indicated that visitors thought it had the least friendly locals, the most unpleasant taxi drivers and the most aggressive waiters.
It is not the first time the locals have been encouraged to be more friendly to guests. But Mr Fabius said new measures would go further than previous efforts and would include fast-track visas and welcome signs in airports and rail stations.
A recent World Economic Forum report ranked countries with the friendliest welcome: Iceland, New Zealand, Morocco, Macedonia and Austria with Portugal also ranking high.
Comments
Just ask as poor African Americans how equal they are under US law!
Portugal does badly on inequality too, as does the UK, but France is better:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality
The chambermaid would not have dared say a word in the UK where libel laws prohibit speaking out about rich criminals.
A core problem with less advanced countries, perhaps driven by their religion - is the wider gap between the haves and have not's . The special people - the service provider and the nobody's - the visitor. The 'Protestant' religion and its offshoots intentionally aiming originally towards more equality between leader and led.
And the law, although supposing to equalise everyone but, due to culture - not actually doing so .
Consider Strauss-Kahn. Where but in an originally 'Protestant' oriented country like the US (and a few other countries like the UK) would one of the most important people on the planet be investigated and later charged on the strength of a chambermaids accusations !
Certainly in France, DSK's homeland and unquestionably also Portugal and Greece, the hotel management would have warned the chambermaid her job was on the line if she did not shut up. "Just live with it, Ms Diallo. If DSK sues us or you for Defamation you are finished here"
And then other aggrieved stepped forward from the shadows of DSK's history.