Top of the World: Why Paris is the ultimate tourist destination

Paris takes the crown as the world’s most visited city destination with a Travel & Tourism sector worth almost $36BN USD in 2022, in terms of direct GDP contribution to the city. Paris remains the most-visited city in the world, with 44 million tourists in 2022. As of May 2023, the summary of the tourist year 2022 in Paris, shows a positive trend despite the impacts of the health crisis and the workers’ strike action. European tourists make up a significant portion of international visitors in Paris, with 10% of all international visitors to Paris coming from the UK. Meanwhile, the US is the only non-European nationality to make the most international visits to Paris, which means long-haul travel is common for American tourists.

The initial results for 2023 confirm the positive momentum of 2022. For the period from January to February 2023, overall tourist attendance has increased by 57% compared to January-February 2022 but remains below pre-crisis levels. The forecasts for March to May 2023 are very encouraging, both for hotel reservations, rated twice as high as those for comparable months in 2021 and for international air reservations 66% more during the same period compared to 2021, nearly equivalent to those of 2019.

With over 44 million tourists welcomed which is a 95% increase compared to 2021, Paris Region showed strong momentum in 2022, despite the 13% decline witnessed in 2019. At the same time, tourists generated 19.6 billion euros in revenue during the year. The reopening of most countries and the rather favorable economic context boosted international tourist travel in 2022.

With 24.7 million tourists, the French clientele has regained its pre-pandemic market share which is estimated at 56%. The international clientele is mainly European: the British with 2 million visitors, the Spanish with 1.5 million, as well as Italians, Germans, Belgians, Dutch, and Swiss. The American clientele, after two years of the health crisis, has regained its position as the top international clientele with 2.4 million stays in 2022, representing a visitation level close to that witnessed in 2019.

Hotel attendance in the region has rebounded by 112% compared to 2021, with 66.6 million overnight stays recorded, but it has not yet reached the attendance levels of the same period in 2019. However, the hotels’ economic performance is better than that of 2019, thanks in particular to the increase in average prices, ranging from an 11% increase for economy and mid-range hotels to 40% for luxury hotels and palaces. With 8 million booked nights, seasonal rentals and furnished accommodations have experienced a more significant decrease in demand compared to hotels rated at 22% compared to 2019.

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