France leads world for tourism

Visits to France were up in 2001 despite a gap in flights to the U.S.

PARIS, France -- France remained the world's top tourist destination in 2001, official figures have revealed.

Over the year as a whole, visits rose slightly -- though there was a downturn after the September 11 terror attacks, the French tourism ministry said.

About 76.5 million foreign tourists visited France in 2001, up two percent from the level a year earlier, tourism minister Jacques Brunhes told the French Senate on Monday.

Brunhes said France has been the world's top destination for more than a decade. However, he said tourism in France started to decline last year following the terror attacks in the United States.

"The year 2001 will remain marked by the terrible events of September 11 and their impacts on air transport and tourism," Brunhes said, adding that the industry is in a "slowdown phase" largely due to the attacks.

Immediately following the attacks, France recorded a 20 percent drop in visitors, a severe blow for an industry that in 2000 brought in 75 million tourists and $29 billion, tourism officials said.

At that time planes flying in and out of the United States from France were grounded for the first time in modern history.

Normal air travel did not resume for days, causing many tourist and business travellers to delay or cancel trips.

The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated 70 percent of American tourists destined for the capital city cancelled hotel reservations for two weeks following the attack.

A spokesperson for the Eiffel Tower, the city's signature landmark, said ticket sales dropped 10 percent immediately after the attacks, while the Louvre, which houses Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," Michelangelo's "Slaves" and the jewels of Ramses II, noted a 25 percent drop in admission sales in the two weeks after September 11.