The Minister of Commerce (Fleur Pellerin) and the Foreign Minister (Laurent Fabius) speaking at a conference on tourism underlined the importance of the industry to France, as the world's leading tourist destination. But they said that visitors were dismayed by the rudeness of their hosts, especially in Paris. Surveys by Tripadvisor and other organisations have rated Paris as the most tourist hostile city, its taxi drivers as the most unpleasant and waiters the most aggressive. Oddly these opinions are shared by 97% of Parisians themselves.
Several initiatives over recent years (smile ambassadors, politeness manuals) seem to have had little effect. Fabius told the meeting that "an unhappy tourist is one who will not return". Measures to improve the tourist experience over the next 5 years include a re-vamp to the Gare du Nord to rival St Pancras, bus and taxi lanes to Charles de Gaulle airport, a rail link to the airport from central Paris, fixed taxi fares from the airports. More areas to be designated as "tourist" to allow shops to stay open on Sunday - "a tourist who finds a shop closed on Sunday will not wait until Thursday" said Fabius. The trade unions are opposed to this idea.
Infrastructure changes are all very well but when will the French waiter smile and say "You have a nice day, now"? Or is servility no substitute for service?
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