According to new figures recently released, France is still the leader in the world tourism industry.  The figures from the tourism ministry for France, seen by Reuters, confirm around 82 million visitors for 2007 a growth of 4 per cent compared to 2006 and staying ahead of its closest rivals, Spain.

Of those 82 million visitors, 14 million were passing through.  The remaining 68 million were visiting the country as their final destination.  France’s visitor market is made up largely of Europeans, who comprised 46 per cent of the market.  Britain, Belgium and Germany were major contributors and the number of visitors from Switzerland, Portugal, Spain and Italy grew.

Although the number of American visitors also increased, the weak dollar versus the euro did appear to cause a slight slowdown in the last quarter of 2007.  US visitors spend the longest time in France with an eight night average, compared with Europeans who stayed just under six nights and the Japanese who tayed for an average of five nights.