at 12 June 2013
"The quality of reception: a key factor of competitiveness for the world's leading tourist destination"
The Paris Region Tourist Board and the Paris Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) has launched a major awareness-raising campaign called "Do you speak Touriste? " to show professionals how to receive international tourists better.
Although the Paris Region is the favourite destination for international tourists (33 million foreign tourists in 2011), it has a poor reputation when it comes to receiving tourists, against a background of international competition, compared with towns like London: poor grasp of foreign languages, insufficient knowledge of good manners and tourist expectations, etc. Professionals are not sufficiently "armed" to fulfil the wishes of foreign visitors, including those from emerging countries (China, Brazil, etc.).
This campaign was launched on 18 June in Paris with the visit of 500 Parisian shop-keepers and will be repeated in the following departments - 77, 78, 91 and 95.
