LES VACANCES - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 48

gays and the handicapped; sports, service and study; culture, wine and cuisine; and special
events. The list is endless.
Jean-Philippe Pérol heads the American division from his office in New York. He told
me that France has evolved into a brand that appeals to what is known as the “global vil-
lage” tourists. “They have a higher education, with the kind of lifestyle that means they
travel a lot, expect luxury and look for the trendy hotel, the trendy exhibit. That is what we
do well.”
These marketing campaigns are done as if France were a commodity, a product. Offi-
cials said they have to protect their brand, or label, that tourists have to feel they receive
high quality at a reasonable price—a goal more than a few might question when faced
with the high prices in Paris. And every year, like good corporate executives, the govern-
ment tourist officials put out an annual Report on Activity that runs over 120 pages and
reads like a corporate report to shareholders.
• • •
For all of their successes, and their role as a world leader, French tourism is still plagued
with problems. Some are predictable, such as underinvestment in lodging in many areas,
with an insufficient number of hotel rooms in new markets (like Bordeaux) and not
enough vacation homes to rent (Provence). Crowds are also growing unmanageable in the
summer in Paris. The Left Bank is colonized by visitors during July and August, and pop-
ular spots like Giverny, the former home of Claude Monet, become mob scenes on many
weekends.
At Giverny you feel the familiar twinge of regret at the sight of the intimate home of a
revered artist forever fossilized for visiting crowds. It is the price for preserving the stunning
flower beds that Monet planted in splashes of bright colors just as he painted his land-
scapes. Tourists who take photographs on the bridge over the famous lily pond later buy
coffee mugs, straw hats like the one worn by Monet and posters at the cavernous gift shop
in a former studio. In 2010 those visitors included Brazilians in large numbers, Americans
visiting from a cruise ship, Danes, Swedes, Italians and a large number of Japanese. This
is a museum after all, and generous benefactors, led by Americans, saved Giverny. “We
don't understand why so many tourists like to visit the homes where artists painted their
works,” said Marchetti. “But it enriches our patrimony.”
The question more than a few French are asking is whether in this age of tourism their
country has gotten so used to being admired by the throngs peering at their “patrimony”
that a subtle shift is taking place and France is failing to produce more artistic wunder-
kinds like Monet.
That question feeds into the French feeling that there is something unhealthy about
this tourism, that it desecrates their lives, and reduces their country to that product sold by