New research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shows the recovery of France’s tourism industry could hit growth of 34.9% this year.

The first Destination France summit brought together WTTC members and global business leaders from within the tourism sector on Thursday in Paris, focusing on driving visitors back to the country.

“We must multiply the synergies between the sectors” and “think of 5-10 years to put tourism back on track and that the destination France becomes the first”, said President Emmanuel Macron during his opening speech. “We had 15 billion euros of investment per year before the crisis, we must aim for 20 billion per year”, he continued, “I need your investments.”

WTTC said growth in the tourism sector is due to skyrocket ahead of Europe’s overall recovery at 23.9%, and the global recovery at 30.7%.

Before the pandemic, in 2019, the travel and tourism industry in France contributed €211 billion to GDP (8.5% of the national economy). A year later, when the coronavirus crisis brought global travel to a standstill, the contribution from this sector dropped to €108 billion (4.7% of the national economy).

Yet, as per the latest findings, at the current recovery rate, year-on-year growth of almost 35% is predicted within the French tourism sector, representing a rise of €38 billion. Moreover, the data shows France may experience a year-on-year increase of 21.8% next year, contributing another €32 billion boost to the national economy.

The global tourism body added that although a rise in domestic travel has provided much-needed relief, it is insufficient to reach the full recovery required to rescue the economy and salvage the millions of jobs lost during the pandemic.