Paris Plage 2010

Paris: World Capital of Tourism

French Property Insider
Volume VIII, Issue 29
July 22, 2010
Paris, France
adrianleeds.com/frenchproperty/insider

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Bonjour French Property Insider Subscriber,

Paris Plage opened Tuesday for a month-long of summer activities recreating life on the "bord de la mer" along our very own River Seine. It's designed to give local residents something to do while not vacationing outside the city and to entertain the tourists in a unique and different way. It works -- from 8 a.m. to midnight, anyone can come and take advantage of all it has to offer which is mainly 'rest and relaxation' with stunning Paris as a backdrop. (See parlerparis/issues/pparis21-7-10.html to read all about it and visit paris-plages.fr/en.html for more information.)

Meanwhile, the Paris "Office de Tourisme" is sending out their own publicity to let the world know that Paris is number one in the world with 28 million visitors a year, 17 million of which are from abroad and 11 million from France. Of the foreign visitors, Americans rank first with 16%, followed by the British with 14%.

The reason this is important to you as a property investor is clear -- it means that like London, Paris is a major world class capital with appeal to international investors that attract both business visitors (43% of tourism) and tourists alike (57% of tourism). There are 76,000 guest rooms in Paris used by 70% of the visitors at an average of 138€ per night. Business tourists spend 235€ a day in the capital while leisure tourists spend 159€ a day, but foreigners spend 22€ per day more than their French counterparts.

The city's commitment to tourism is evident by programs such as Paris Plage, which gives support to Paris as a non-risk investment. Even during the economic crash which saw property prices in the U.S. and other parts of the world plummet, central Paris held strong and is now once again on a substantial increase. Other parts of France have not yet experienced a full come-back in comparison with the country's capital city.

As July is coming to a close and the crux of the vacation season is upon us leaving Paris to the tourists and non-vacationing Parisians on Paris Plage, the real estate market will slow to a crawl. Agents and sellers will be tanning on the beaches while their properties remain vacant until "La Rentrée" at the beginning of September when life begins again. August can be both a terrible time of year to search for properties, yet one of the best -- as those few properties on the market will be offered by sellers who seriously need to sell quickly and therefore will be priced attractively.

If you're willing to take a try at 'fishing' for properties off season, you may get lucky and catch a 'big one' -- and have the joys of Paris and its Plage as a bonus. Better now than when prices rise even further.

A bientôt,

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