Paris pins hopes on British tourists

The French are turning to Britons to save the Paris tourist trade, badly hit by the US terrorist attacks.

With the number of American visitors down by 50 per cent since 11 September, British tourists will be the highest spenders in the French capital this year.

John Gordon, head of the The House of Great Britain tourist centre in Paris, said: "British visitors have surpassed the number of American visitors in Paris over the past month. Last year Britons booked 3.5million hotel nights in Paris behind the Americans who booked 4.7 million.

"Current figures put the American-drop at 50 per cent but British visits are down by only 25 per cent."

An emergency action plan with a budget of £1.8million has been launched and prime minister Lionel Jospin is working on another initiative with industry partners which has a budget of more than £3 million.

The Paris Tourist Office is already promoting the Palais du Luxembourg's Raphael exhibition in the UK and is coordinating a number of promotional offers with Eurostar - the Christmas-Shopping in Paris campaign will start soon. The office's chief, Christian Mantei, said: " Professionals are keen to pull out of the slump as soon as possible and are ready to invest in promotions."

The situation has not been helped by a museum workers' strike which has shut down landmark sites such as the Pompidou Centre for the past three weeks.

Another problem is the increase in street crime which has seen Japanese tourists, especially woman, singled out by muggers. The Japanese embassy has seen street robbery reports rise by 32 per cent in the first quarter of this year.