According the the United Nations Tourist survey, France still tops the lot when it comes to attracting the most tourists every year - coming in at a staggering 76m++. Behind France comes the US, China, Spain, Italy and then the UK. It is a shame to see the UK (despite the sometimes unsure weather and high costs) lagging so far behind - despite a growing feeling that London has much more to offer spectacle wise, and culinary wise even (sorry French friends!) than Paris itself....hopefully the Olympic Games 2012 and the Queen's Jubilee will give a bit of a filip to proceedings. The Olympic Park certainly looks impressive - cheek by jowl with some of the poorest housing in London - this must be so strange for local inhabitants - although I remain unconvinced about the raison d'etre of that ghastly red metal centrepiece!! The arty among you could perhaps enlighten me - PLEASE??? The French are keen however to work their way up the rankings in the spend category where they come in at a meagre third. So far this year from our reservations at spacebetween (http://www.space-between.co.uk) for holiday accommodation and walking and adventure holidays in the Mercantour and beyond - it is the British who seem to have cast off their gloom (happy at last that the UK have their own currency?) while the French seem much more circumspect about spending money - hardly surprising perhaps with the uncertainty of the Euro and the elections this year where there doesn't seem a lot of choice other than the bitter little guy and the extreme right.
The image is of Nice Carnaval a couple of years ago - the Alpes-Maritimes continues its year round sense of fun!!!!
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