Only 2.6 million tourists visited Paris last year, down from 10 million in 2019.
Part 1. Vocabulary
-
the action of deserting a person, cause, or organization:
"I
resented what I saw as my parents' desertion"
afar /ˈäˌfär/ n.
-
a poetic and old-fashioned way to say "far away" or
"distant."
Their
parents waved to them from afar
wreck /rek/ v.
-destroy
or severely damage
"he
was drowned when his ship was wrecked"
aperitif /ə-ˌper-ə-ˈtēf / n.
-
an alcoholic drink taken before a meal as an appetizer
“They served
us champagne as an aperitif.”
hiatus /hī-ˈā-təs/ n.
-
an interruption in time or continuity: BREAK
"The band is making an album again after a five-year hiatus."
Part 2. Article Reading
Few tourists are gazing at the Mona Lisa or wandering the
streets of Paris this summer, dashing hopes that the top tourist destination
would see brighter days after last year's pandemic-linked desertion.
The City of Light has seen between 3.6 million and 4.7
million visitors between June and August, down from 10 million in 2019, before
the coronavirus emerged and wrecked international travel, according to
tourism office figures.
Only 2.6 million tourists visited Paris last year.
"With clients from afar not coming, the impact
is considerable," Didier Arino, director of the travel firm Protourisme,
told AFP.
Museums and other cultural venues reopened after long
closures, though visitors have to show proof of vaccination or negative tests. But
Paris visitor numbers still disappointing.
Arino said occupancy rates at hotels in Paris were worse
than elsewhere in France, with revenues down 60 percent.
Tour guides have also suffered from the absence of tourists,
with activity dropping by more than 80 percent in the Ile-de-France region,
which includes Paris, according to the FNGIC association of guides.
"Paris is a mirror of the great European
capitals," Arino said. "They all have problems and the more they
depend on foreign clients, the more difficult it is."
On the river Seine, the sightseeing boat company Vedettes de
Paris has seen turnover drop 50 percent compared to 2019.
French clients used to make up half the number of
passengers; they accounted for 65 percent this year.
The company has adapted by adding an "aperitif
cruise" and installing an area to play petanque on its dock.
"We learned to reinvent ourselves, give the Seine and
Eiffel Tower back to Parisians," said the company's director, Marie
Bozzonie.
The Eiffel Tower reopened in mid-July after a nine-month hiatus
due to the pandemic, but it has only had 13,000 visitors per day -- half
its usual number.
Some 50 percent are French compared to 20 percent in the
past.
Similar scenes have been seen at the Grevin Museum, which
features wax figures of famous people.
Half of its visitors are usually foreigners. It is down to
10 percent this year, according to Francois Frassier, a director at the
Compagnie des Alpes, which owns the museum and theme parks.
Source: AFP / Full article https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/travel/covid-tourism-woes-paris-travellers-avoid-city-light-276751