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Paris attracts more Chinese tourists than any other city in Europe and now French authorities have reached out to Chinese police to come to their assistance this summer.
More than 1.5 million Chinese tourists visited France last year, prompting A French tourism group to release strict guidelines on how to deal with the hoards of Chinese vacationers. This year, the number is only expected to increase by an estimated 40% given France's recent simplification of the visa application process as well as the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In anticipation, French Minister of The Interior Bernard Cazeneuve turned to Chinese police departments to assist the tourists with the language barrier, giving directions and watching out for pickpockets.
The additional Chinese police officers coming to France this summer, numbering in more than 10 according to Cazeneuve, will join the increased patrols around public transportation hubs and popular tourist spots in order to assist local police in dealing with the tourists. The specific circumstances of the arrangement is still under negotiation, according to the Police Liaison Section of the Chinese Embassy in France.
These actions come as a direct response to a series of muggings, robberies perpetrated against Chinese tourists in France. Just in March 2013, a group of 23 Chinese tourists were robbed in a restaurant shortly after they arrived in the country.
The massive amount of Chinese tourism in the country has been a major source of income, with the tourists having spent around 571 million Euros just last year, but it has also been a source of local consternation. Two years ago, an upstart Parisian hotel from clothing company Zadig et Voltaire initially released a statement that they would not accept Chinese tourists, the backlash to which led founder and owner Thierry Gillier to publicly apologize.
Meanwhile, French authorities have been consistent in encouraging the increase in tourism with the new fast-track visa for Chinese nationals, cutting down application time to a mere 48 hours.
Since 1964, ties between France and China has been strong, following then-president Charles de Gaulle's landmark decision to break with standard US-dominated policy and initiate talks with Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong in an effort to carve a middle ground between East and West.
