tourism's economic and social burden in France
The National Tourism Council (NTC) issued February 15, 2011 the Secretary of State for Tourism a benchmark report on the economic and social impact of tourism in France.The report shows that the share of value added of tourism (€ 41.6 billion) in GDP is much higher than in other sectors, such as energy and agriculture (30 billion euros each) the food industry (25.7 billion) and automotive (11.2 billion). Tourism directly employs in France a million people and employs all other sectors of the economy. The 235,000 SMEs in the sector recorded an annual growth of 1.6% since 2000, the report stresses that tourism is also a structuring factor in French territory (related to urban tourism and business activities, thalassotherapy, sports winter, tourism, nature and cultural, etc.) and it represents a strong social issue, including the integration by the use of early school or professional failure (annual average creation of 27,000 jobs for 10 years and low level of training required).
According to the NTC, the importance of tourism in France can be explained by the diversity of its cultural and natural heritage, emphasized by the various management programs conducted over the decades from 1960 to 1980, both on the coast that in the mountains. But these facilities are now dated (transport infrastructure and home equipment) and the issue of their upgrade arises, to meet both the new requirements of comfort and technical improvements (recommendations of the Grenelle Environment).



