Tourism and leisure

The French sports sector generates a turnover of around €38.1 billion, which is equivalent to around 1.8% of GDP. This includes expenditure by households, general government and enterprises. This market is also a source of employment, with more than 200 000 jobs in 2022 in the French sporting landscape.

The E-sport figures are becoming massive, in 2022 there are 10.8 million Internet users aged 15 and over in France interested in esports, an increase of 1.4 million compared to 2021. Of these, 6 million are watching video game competitions (+0.8M compared to 2021), and 3.5 million are watching and practicing esports (+0.9M compared to 2021), and 1.3 million are exclusively people who play ranked games and/or register for video game competitions).

This is one of the areas most affected by the COVID crisis on the national territory, many players in this market have seen their businesses closed and others have had to adapt their way of functioning by implementing exceptional measures and by redoubling their inventiveness by innovating and creating unique experiences to attract customers. The sector represents 960,000 employees in 200,000 companies, making it the 6th largest employer in France. A turnover of EUR 70 billion and gender parity respected are other factors that make the market very attractive.

Tourism figures in France reached a record €58 billion in turnover in 2022, 1.2 billion more than in 2019 post-COVID period. An upside, thanks in part to inflation, increases the revenue generated by raising prices. Tourism is therefore one of the major sectors of the national economy, hosting 75 million tourists in 2022. Tourism has therefore been a crucial sector for our GDP, creating millions of direct and indirect jobs, and we have the opportunity and the chance to be one of the most popular destinations in the world thanks to our culture, heritage, gastronomy and landscapes with varied reliefs.