Maison de la France, the French Government Tourist Office, has nearly doubled its exhibitor participation for this year’s Arabian Travel Market, highlighting the importance of the Middle East traveller to the French economy.

New figures from France’s tourism authority, the Direction du Tourisme, have revealed that over 500,000 tourists from the Middle East trooped into France.

Although this figure is notably less than other areas such as the UK and Germany, the spend per tourist is much greater than other regions, said a French official.

“The Middle East ranks among the five source markets whose visitors have the highest level of expenditure while travelling in France, with the region positioned alongside some of our biggest markets outside of Europe, such as the US, China and Russia,” said Pascal Lepetre, the director of Maison de la France – Middle East.

Accordingly, the interest from the French tourism industry at this year’s ATM has significantly surged from around 13 partner exhibitors in 2007 to 23 this year.

“The response has been so overwhelming that we had more requests for participation than space to accommodate them,” added Lepetre.

A regular exhibitor since the first ATM in 1993,, Maison de la France,  will highlight some of France’s most enticing travel destinations.

Evian, the birthplace of the famous Evian mineral water, will be in spotlight. Surrounded by lakes and mountains, the destination offers an attractive contrast to the deserts of the Arabian region.

Evian wellness resorts – the Evian Royal Resort and the Hilton Evian-les-Bains Hotel – offer five-star accommodation for the luxury traveller overlooking the lakes of Geneva and just below the French Alps.

The town is part of the Rhone-Alps region, who is also exhibiting in its own right. Comprising the French Alps and the Rhone Valley, the region is renowned for gastronomy, skiing, art and its picturesque mountains and lakes.

With more than 78 million foreign tourists visiting France in 2006, up nearly three per cent on the previous year, France continues to be the world's number one tourist destination, according to the French Government Tourist Office Although official statistics for 2007 are not yet available, the authority’s initial figures show a futher increase of 2.6 per cent to 80 million tourists.-TradeArabia News Service