We are talking here, of course, about the world’s leading tourism power. If it isn’t first in terms of revenue—as it ranks third behind the United States and Spain—it still remains ahead in the number of visitors.
But its runner-up shows a very different growth. And this is beginning to worry the higher-ups, starting with our deputies.
To such an extent that a mission of information on the obstacles to the development of the tourism economy was commissioned by the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
This mission has delivered its conclusions with the aim of unleashing the full potential of the tourism economy. Behind this document, we find a deputy from the National Rally, Alexis Jolly, and another from the Republican Right, Vincent Rolland.
And, for the two elected officials, tourism is above all a business affair.
“France attracts more visitors than its competitors, but earns less wealth from them. This paradox shows the gap between what our country actually benefits from and what it could really retain“, they write in the introduction.
A line that reminds us of something.
Norms, obstacles, Spain, tax and aviation… a pro-business semantic
The organization had then stated that it was time to move beyond the sole quantitative objective to focus on value. Farewell to the 100 million international visitors, welcome the ambition of generating 100 billion euros in receipts from these same travelers.
In 2025, France had reached a record in tourism revenues, with 77.5 billion euros.
And to allow tourism to go into overdrive and cut through the brakes with a chainsaw-like efficiency, the two elected officials spoke with 18 organizations representing a broad spectrum of actors, including professional federations, public operators, elected officials, and experts.
The brakes, as the document states, were mainly highlighted by Alliance France Tourisme, a “place of reflection and action” that brings together players such as Pierre & Vacances, Accor, Air France, the Compagnie des Alpes, SNCF Connect or Disneyland Paris, but also many others.
A lobbying body that recurs often, indeed very often, since it appears among the most cited occurrences in the report, with 35 appearances. Just as “Spain” and “Spanish” are cited 24 times, “norm” 40 times, “development” 39 times, “brake” 29 times, then “aviation” 19 times, and “tax” 18 times.
A rhetoric that thus highlights the economic aspects of the industry, sometimes obscuring its side effects.
“The repeated appearance of Alliance France Tourisme raises ethical questions about this report.
It looks like propaganda or advocacy. The industry defends itself, because it creates jobs and economic spillovers, which is normal and will not bother anyone. But it must not do so by manipulating the numbers. We must compare comparable data.
After the summer we lived through, with wildfires and heatwaves, highlighting aviation, when it is the only sector that does not decarbonize while all the others do, that is not serious.
For me, they mock the planet, working conditions and land pressure. It’s a kind of forward rush that astonishes me, laments Prosper Wanner, sociologist and lecturer-researcher in cultural mediation of the arts at Aix-Marseille University.
Tourism: “We will never have the same model as Spain”
According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, CO2 emissions from commercial passenger air transport in France rose by 4% in 2024, slightly less than traffic, which grew by 6% in passenger-kilometer equivalents.
This is not all. The report would also be based on distorted figures, such as those for foreign visitors’ receipts in Spain, which include international flights, something not taken into account in France.
“They also include both aviation and travel packages. Aviation accounts for 20% of this sum, and travel packages 18%. The receipts are therefore inflated by 38% compared to our country.
The report does not take into account the leakage rate in Spain, i.e., the money that leaves the country without being redistributed to the local population, which is substantial.
There have been studies showing that on the Canaries, package holidays account for nearly 50% of stays. In Benidorm, it’s 40%. The leakage rate is therefore substantial.
Here we are comparing two very different models,
recontextualises Prosper Wanner.
To read: “The Canaries are not for sale,” the reasons for the anger
If Spain thrives on the international tourism stage, let us not forget that its very intensive model would be hard to duplicate in France.
Not only do we lack the infrastructure to host hundreds of thousands of travelers in all-inclusive hotels along the coast year-round, nor the airports, nor even the weather.
“We will never have the same model as Spain.
We will never be able to do that on the Atlantic coast, simply because when it is 30 degrees in Tenerife, it is 17 degrees in La Baule or 18 in Biarritz. In October, people go to Tenerife; they don’t go swimming in Vendée.
If we look at Corsica’s four airports, they total almost ten times fewer passenger arrivals than Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 4.37 million passengers versus 33 million for the single Spanish airport, editor’s note ndlr.
If we want ten times more people arriving in Corsica, we need ten times more supply. But I doubt the Corsicans want ten times more tourists“, recaps Jean Pinard, head of the Futourism consultancy.
