France’s travel and tourism sector has increased by 34.9 per cent this year, research from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reveals.

The news was shared during the Destination France Summit, where WTTC also added that the sector’s growth noted this year is ahead of other European countries by 23.9 per cent and 30.7 per cent compared to the international stage, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

As WTTC shows, this recovery rate can bring France an additional €38 billion or a year-on-year growth of 35 per cent, which by 2022 is expected to stand at 21.8 per cent or about €38 billion.

According to Julia Simpson, WTTC’s CEO, France is recovering faster than other EU countries, but a long way ahead awaits the tourism and travel sector in the country.

“Last year the pandemic saw hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in France. This year employment remains flat, but we expect to see a big uptick in Travel and Tourism in France next year as long as the country remains open to vaccinated travellers,” Simpson noted.

As the Head of WTTC said, about 200,000 French residents lost their jobs last year, but employment is expected to remain on the same levels in 2021. Next year, the country expects a rise of 9.4 per cent, accounting for 236,000 job vacancies.

The same source shows that in 2020, the travel and tourism sector brought €108 billion to the country, accounting for 4.7 per cent of the national economy. This figure was 48.81 per cent less than 2019 when the sector brought €211 million (8.5 per cent) to the national economy.

In terms of the type of tourism, domestic travel has seen a surge in France during the last two years, but not enough to fully recover the economy and jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research also shows that domestic spending has increased by 56.6 per cent this year, but international spending is expected to mark a 1.9 per cent decrease by the end of the year.

In general, on a year-on-year basis, domestic spending is expected to increase by 9.9 per cent, whereas international spending can rebound by 67.8 per cent, as the vaccination campaigns have been implemented and employment rates have been restored to a point.

SchengenVisaInfo.com previously reported on the matter, revealing that a 35 per cent increase will be evident in France’s travel and tourism sector. The same source reported that the recovery would be evident sooner if the vaccination campaigns were fully implemented, a common digital solution to be standardised and for governments to recognise vaccine manufacturers.

Source: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/frances-travel-tourism-recovering-ahead-of-eu-other-world-countries/