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France remains a major destination for Chinese travelers Even though Chinese outbound tourism favorite destinations are other Asian regions like Hong-Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South-Korea, Thailand and Singapore, Chinese tourism in Europe remains strong and especially in France.

As of Q2 2015, France stands on the 6th most visited destinations according to TravelChinaGuide figures. Italy comes 7th, followed by Switzerland 8th and Germany 10th. Let us focus on the favorite Chinese tourists French destinations.

What are the favorite cities in France that Chinese like ?

 According to the biggest travel forum in China, mafengwo and qyer, you will find the top 10 destination in France for Chinese travelers.

 1-    Paris

 Paris (Bali in Mandarin) obviously ranks 1st. The romantic French capital and its rich historical heritage, its numerous museums, monuments seems to attract most of the attention.

 2-    Nice & Cote d’Azur remain popular

 South-Eastern France city Nice arrives second. Last year the city recorded an increase in tourist number of about 60% mainly explained by the Chinese millionaire boss that offered vacations in France for over 6,000 of its employees.

 3-    Lyon is growing in fame

 Lyon comes 3rd, the central-eastern French city of Rhône-Alpes is getting more and more tourist attention over years. Lyon is known in China as the French capital of gastronomy and its football team. Football (soccer) is a growing interests for Chinese people on online platforms such as WeChat and Weibo. Lyon even has its own Weibo blog page. According to the Weibo page, Lyon’s places that receive the most review are as follows: Bellecour square,

Fourvière Cathedral, Saint-Jean Church, The Gallo-Roman amphitheater and the Tête D’or park According to the Chinese travelers, the old Lyon is very appreciated for its serenity and its numerous red roofs. The Lyon Bouchons[1] are really appreciated for their authentic and great taste. The universities and superior education schools are often talked about.

 4 – Avignon & Provence

Avignon has gone up the ranks as it has attracted more Chinese tourists recently. The great romantic fields of lavender of the Provence region is one of the most known French places in China. A Chinese TV-show had a few episodes that took place in the Provence region, strongly increasing its fame. The episodes depicted the actors around French castles and huge flower fields.

 5- Annecy shines,

Over the past few years, Europe has represented a major draw for the rapidly growing number of Chinese outbound tourists. The largest visitor source market for many of the continent’s countries, Europe saw 12.5 million tourists arriving from China in 2015, according to the official statistics. The European Travel Commission (ETC) is forecasting a 7.4% increase of Chinese arrival numbers to Europe this year, representing one million more visits than 2015.

In spite of security concerns such as terrorist attacks, Paris remains the dream destination for many Chinese tourists. In order to benefit from the Chinese outbound travel market, the French government has sought to reduce the visa delivery process for Chinese nationals. In 2014, the waiting time was cut from ten days to just 48 hours. In January 2016, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced plans to halve this processing period to just one day.

As well as long-popular Western European destinations such as France, Germany, Switzerland and Britain witnessing growth in numbers of Chinese arrivals, but also many Central and Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Serbia are seeing increases as Chinese tourists look to travel to more ‘novel’ locations.

In 2015, for example, the Czech Republic saw a record of 300,000 Chinese arrivals. In order to facilitate this wave of interest, Hainan Airlines, China’s fourth largest carrier, launched the first Beijing-Prague direct flight last September. Additionally, the Czech government opened more visa application centres in Shanghai and Beijing. It plans to add more visa centres in smaller cities including Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Kunming. The move to add additional visa-processing facilities in China is also being replicated by a number of other European countries, including: Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Denmark.

They have been mentioned more than 56 million times on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter. Everyone wants to be their friend, but no one likes them. They seem to be everywhere, throwing around their newly minted renminbi and well-used UnionPay debit cards; yet they are elusive and shun the media. Their love for bling has become the backbone of the global luxury goods industry, yet they are also the subject of disdain, the butt of jokes, the punching bag for that which is offensive to good taste.

They are the tuhao -- tu means dirt or uncouth; hao means splendor -- and they are the Beverly Hillbillies of China.Tuhao once meant rich landowner -- the villainous landed gentry and class enemy of communist China's proletariat -- but the term's modern revival began with a popular joke that made its rounds on Chinese social media in early September. A young man asks a Zen master, "I'm wealthy but unhappy. What should I do?" The Zen master responds, "Define 'wealthy.'" The young man answers, "I have millions in the bank and three apartments in central Beijing. Is that wealthy?" The Zen master silently holds out a hand, inspiring the young man to a realization: "Master, are you telling me that I should be thankful and give back?" The Zen master says, "No … Tuhao, can I become your friend?" 

This rather lame joke struck a chord with China's middle class, a rapidly expanding group that now numbers over 300 million. As a middle-class lifestyle grows increasingly normal, so has disdain for flaunted wealth. Many Chinese would now say they consider themselves the antithesis of tuhao -- educated, fashionable, and disdainful of conspicuous consumption.

At the same time, Chinese live in a society where understanding tuhao is valuable, catering to tuhao taste is lucrative, and making tuhao friends is sensible. Multinational corporations understand this.

Tuhao had their breakout moment on Sept. 20, when Apple introduced a gold version of the new iPhone 5s smartphone. Despite initial disbelief that Apple would indulge such tackiness, the gilded phone has become insanely popular in China, where it is known -- even in state media headlines --as the "tuhao gold."

The tuhao concept extends beyond gilded gadgets. On Sept. 22, members of Hollywood royalty flocked to the seaside Chinese city of Qingdao for the opening of a cinema complex owned by developer Wang Jianlin, whom Bloomberg calls China's richest man. China's Internet users labeled the event an "Extravaganza of Tuhao" and a celebration of "Haollywood". A-listers rubbed shoulders with security guards in uniforms; elderly locals performed Chinese opera. The country's middle class, it seems, is conflicted: The nouveau is surely gauche, but the old is still uncouth.