Be more friendly, French foreign minister tells citizens

/ Courtey of Le Mac blog

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has urged citizens to stop being unfriendly, because their behavior is harming tourism.

"Tourism is a national treasure that needs to be protected, nurtured and developed," the Metro quoted the minister as saying at the launch of a scheme to promote tourism. He then urged them to be more welcoming.

He said that in several surveys, tourists rated Paris as one of the most hostile places.

"To put it diplomatically, we have room for improvement here,” Fabius said. “When we come up against a foreign tourist, we are all ambassadors for France.”

He said he hoped France would be attracting 100 million foreign visitors a year by 2020.