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ECONOMY

France earns €148 million in tourist taxes from Airbnb

As tourists made their way back to France in 2022, many stayed in Airbnbs, helping to more than double the country's earnings from its 'tourist tax' when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

France earns €148 million in tourist taxes from Airbnb
The logo of the online lodging service Airbnb displayed on a smartphone in Paris. (Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)

One of the world’s most visited countries – tourism in France rebounded in 2022, led by droves of American and British tourists who excitedly made their way back to l’Hexagone after several years of travel restrictions. In June, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, Paris and greater Paris region returned to pre-pandemic (2019) hotel occupancy levels.

It was not just hotels who welcomed back customers in 2022, however. Airbnb rentals also increased – so much so that the platform Airbnb paid €148 million in tourist tax to French municipalities in 2022, according to Le Parisien.

This amount represented an increase of 60 percent when compared to 2021, according to Airbnb.

The holidaymaker – or tourist – tax was first introduced in 2018, and it is proportional to the number of nights spent in a property and is paid by the tenants at the end of their stay. It is paid twice a year to the local council on behalf of the hosts, professionals and individuals.

The specific rate of the tax depends on the nature of accommodation, which includes its classification (star rating), as well as the rate voted on by the municipality.

As for 2022, it was paid out to over 23,000 French municipalities.

For furnished accommodation, municipalities typically set a rate of between one percent to five percent of the nightly price per person, which usually corresponds to just a few euros per trip. 

France’s 2022 tourism boost 

“The year 2022 marks the recovery of tourism across the whole of France,” Emmanuel Marill, Director of Airbnb France, told Le Parisien.

Airbnb saw a significant rise in the total number of rentals in France for the year 2022, which they classify as the period between November 2021 and October 2022, when compared to both 2021 and 2019 (pre-pandemic).

France more than doubled its earnings from the tourist tax in 2022 (€148 million) when compared to the €58 million in 2019, performing better than 2021 as well, when the country collected €93 million from the tax.

Unsurprisingly, it was the city of Paris who received the most from the tourist tax – at least €24.3 million.

READ MORE: Bail mobilité: How France’s short-term rental contracts work

This also represents a significant increase – a jump of 158 percent – when compared to 2021, when the city collected €9.4 million.

Paris is not the only French city to have received more funds from the tourist tax though – Marseille collected €2.8 million, compared to the €1.9 million from 2021, and Nice collected more than €2.4 million, compared to more than €1.2 million in 2021.

Corsica also collected a significant amount in the tourist tax – about €3.7 million in total across Corsican municipalities, according to Franceinfo

Non-urban parts of France were not forgotten either – about 30 percent of the earnings from the tourist tax went to rural communities – or localities with less than 3,500 inhabitants. 

“Tourism in France is also rural,” the director of the Association for Rural Mayors of France, Cédric Szabo, told Le Parisien. “Many people are seeking the calm and the outdoors for their French vacation.”

Szabo pointed out that rural travel in France has great potential for tourism, even in places that do not have a primary attraction, like “Mont-Saint-Michel or Les Baux-de-Provence.”

The head of Airbnb France also went on to tell the French daily that the rental platform is “increasingly benefiting a wide variety of communities every year.”

“Whether they are located in the heart of or on the outskirts of major urban areas or in the French countryside, more French municipalities have additional means to develop their tourism offering and promote their territory over the long term,” he said.

Criticism for Airbnb

However, despite the increase in tax revenue, many cities have criticised the expansion of of bed-and-breakfasts thanks to platforms like Airbnb or Booking.

READ MORE: What are the rules on renting out French property on Airbnb?

Residents often accuse the platforms of causing a housing shortage which negatively impacts those who live in these towns year-round.

In response to these concerns, several town halls have put in restrictions for renting out a property with Airbnb. Renters are increasingly required to declare their rentals to the town hall.

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BRITS IN FRANCE

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

They might not love British cuisine but the UK remains a very popular destination for French people to visit, while thousands of them also want to make the move permanently.

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

Almost three million French tourists travel to the UK every year with the country’s vibrant cities, history and culture given as the top reasons for their trip.

And a recent survey has revealed a surprisingly positive view of their neighbour from French people – with one exception.

The French participants in the study were asked to rank 60 different countries based on several different topics – tourism, culture, people, exports, governance, immigration and investment. 

So what did they say about the UK?

Bad food

French survey respondents placed British food at the very bottom of the list – in 60th place out of all 60 countries. 

This is far lower than the UK’s average, which was 18th amongst the other nationalities interviewed.

In an interview with The Guardian about how the French feel about British food, the British comedian, Tatty Macleod, who was raised in France said “English food to [the French] is essentially fish and chips (…) they think of Brits as beer louts with unhealthy diets”.

This has been a longstanding feeling amongst the French – in 2018, another comedian, Al Murray, went across the Channel with the documentary series ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’

In France, he teamed up with radio host Antoine de Caunes, and when launching the programme, they conducted a small survey of several hundred viewers to find out the top 20 things the French ‘hate’ about the English.

There were a couple of food-related comments: “Their inability to cook” came in fourth place, the “lack of variety in their diet” took 11th place and “the fact that they put ketchup on everything” came in 12th place, according to a round-up by Ouest France.

It’s been suggested that many French people have bad memories of food they were given on school trips to the UK, often decades ago, and certainly bad food is a recurring theme in French films and TV shows about trips to the UK.

Worth visiting

Despite not having a taste for British cuisine, the French did have a positive view of UK tourism, placing the country 5th for both “vibrant city life and urban attractions” and for being “rich in historic buildings and monuments” in the IPSOS study.

According to Visit Britain, the UK welcomed 2.8 million tourists from France in 2022.

In the culture category in general, the French ranked the UK in third place out of all 60 countries. 

One aspect of British culture that French people seem to really enjoy is the royal family.

In 2021, 6 million people in France watched the funeral of Prince Phillip, 4 million watched the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and the royal weddings of princes William and Harry attracted 9 and 8 million French viewers respectively.

Charles de Gaulle once remarked: “The French have a taste for princes, but they will always look abroad'”.

READ MORE: Why British royals are so popular in France

And in terms of visiting the UK, IPSOS’ findings are in line with previous data about where French people choose to go on holiday – the UK was the fourth most popular country among French people, as of 2019, according to Le Monde.

A 2021 study by Visit Britain also found that 10 percent of French people would pick the UK as their top global destination.

Moving to the UK

And there are plenty of French people who decide to make their stay a long-term or even permanent one.

The UK ranked in third place as of 2023 for French students to study abroad.

It also comes in third place – behind Switzerland and the US – for having the most French people living there.

After Brexit, over 240,000 French people applied for the EU settlement scheme in the UK from 2018 to 2021, and once applications were reviewed, approximately 130,000 received settled status and 93,100 received pre-settled status. 

Among the French, London is sometimes nicknamed ‘France’s sixth city’ due to the number of French people living there.

Polite, well-mannered and funny

The French ranked Brits in 21st place for the question “If visited, people would make me feel very welcome”. This is an increase of two spots from the 2022 results.

When scouring the internet, British politeness does come up often in French clichés about the UK.

Ouest France reported that over a third (36 percent) of French people interviewed for Al Murray’s show “appreciated the politeness and good manners of the English.”

Three out of every 10 people also thought Brits had a good sense of humour – and Brits felt this way about themselves too. 

In a 2009 survey exploring British views of the French, 71 percent of participants said that the French are ‘sexier’ than the British, but 80 percent said the British had a better sense of humour. 

READ MORE: Do the French really have no sense of humour?

Driving on the left-side

And finally, to get a better idea of French opinions about Brits, The Local turned to Google.

We searched both anglais (English) and britanniques (British) because the French do have a bit of a tendency to mix them up and refer to all inhabitants of the UK (and sometimes even the Irish) with the sweeping les anglais. 

The first suggested response had to do with driving on the left-side of the road, which also popped up in the survey by ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’ as the number 1 thing the French ‘hate’ about the British.

READ MORE: Tea and Dordogne: How do the French perceive the Brits?

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