The summer is looking to have been good for the freanch tourism industry as local and foreign holidaymakers swarmed the country after the covide -19 pandemic ratteld the sector for two years.

Tourism Minister Olivia gregoire told a news conference that preliminary data showed summer 2022 had been “exceptionl”

Meanwhile, credit card spending during summer rose 10% from 2019 in French hotels and  restaurants, she said.

France depends heavily on tourism, which generates 8 percent of the national gross domestic product and provides two million jobs.

In 2019 France was the most visited country in the world, attracting nearly 90 million foreign tourists.