France hotels report 10.2-percent boost in tourist numbers in Q2 2017

France's hotel industry saw a spike in tourist numbers in the second quarter of 2017, following a sharp decrease in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in 2015-2016. Data from France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies revealed that the number of tourists' overnight stays in Paris reached 2015's levels—up by 10.2 percent year-over-year and totaling 107.1 million nights. 

Foreign tourist numbers saw an even more significant increase by 10.4 percent year-over-year while domestic tourist numbers grew by 10.1 percent. "This increase was much sharper than that in the previous two quarters and more than offset the significant decline recorded a year earlier (−5.3 percent) during the post-terrorist period. Thus, the number of overnight stays exceeded by more than 4 percent that of the second quarter 2015. This upswing related to both French customers and foreign ones," the institute said in a statement.

Insee reported that Paris hotels recorded this significant increase, with overnight stay numbers rising by 12.6 percent in hostels and 27.9 percent in hotels year-over-year. "In particular, overnight stays of foreign customers increased considerably in the agglomeration of Paris (+16.5 percent) and reached a similar level to that recorded in 2015," the institute noted.

State of Emergency

The terror threat in Europe is still high in the aftermath of multiple recent deadly attacks. In November 2015, the Islamic State terrorist group specifically attacked Paris multiple times while claiming 130 lives and injuring more than 350 people. On Bastille Day last July, a truck drove down a large crowd in Nice, killing at least 86 people. France has remained in a state of emergency since it was issued in November 2015. Now, the state of emergency will continue due to the parliament's sixth vote from this past July to extend it. With the most recent attack in Paris involving a driver who purposely ran over a group of French soldiers and injuring six of them, the state of emergency doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.