France remained the world's top tourist destination in 2006 despite a continuing reputation for giving visitors a distinctly frosty welcome.
Grumpy taxi drivers, stony-faced waiters and bad signposting make the tourism industry's achievement of having 76 million visitors last year a little less impressive.
“France is the number-one country in the world in terms of visitor numbers, but nearly the worst of all for a warm reception,” said Jean-Pierre Blatt, director of the Regional Committee for Tourism in Ile-de-France.
PHOTO: AFP
Rural areas give a warmer welcome than cities, according to the first findings of a recent study.
“In the major cities, the French are more stressed out, more distant and rarely make an effort to break the ice and approach a foreign tourist,” said Claude Origet du Cluzeau, the report's author.
This, she added, gives the impression that the French are “arrogant, or even scornful.”
Bernard Plasait, member of the Economic and Social Council, says French service industry workers dislike the idea of service with a smile because they fear their “service will be mistaken for servitude.”
Du Cluzeau also said the French refused to speak foreign languages to tourists even when they were capable of doing so.
“It's not a language problem, but one of attitude ... a third of the people in France say they can hold a conversation in English, but they just don't do it,” she said.
“The Spanish don't hesitate to fall back on sign language to communicate with foreigners in order to show their hospitality if they can't speak the language,” she added.
(AFP)
儘管法國對待遊客仍是一貫冷冰冰的態度，二○○六年仍穩坐全世界觀光客最愛景點的冠軍寶座。
脾氣暴躁的計程車司機、表情僵硬的服務生和功能不佳的路標是去年觀光產業只吸引七千六百萬名遊客造訪，表現差強人意的原因。
大巴黎地區的觀光區域委員會主任尚皮耶．布萊特指出︰「就遊客數量來看，法國可謂世界第一，但人情味指數幾乎是敬陪末座。」
根據最近一份研究報告初步發現，鄉村地區比城市更有人情味。
這份報告的作者克勞奧麗潔．杜克魯索表示︰「在各大城市中的法國人壓力比較大、較有距離感，幾乎不會嘗試打破沉默和接近國外觀光客。」
她補充，這讓一般人對法國人有「自大，甚至瞧不起人」的印象。
經濟社會理事會成員伯納．布萊賽表示，法國服務業從業人員因恐「服務被當成服侍」而厭惡服務時面帶微笑。
杜克魯索還表示，法國人儘管能力可為，也不願意對外國人說外語。
她說︰「這不是語言問題，而是態度問題…三分之一的法國人表示能進行英文對話，只是他們不願意。」
她說︰「西班牙人如果不會說該國語言，會毫不猶豫地退而求其次用比手畫腳的方式溝通，展現好客的一面。」
（法新社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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