robjame

Despite the exchange rate, there seems to be a renewed interest in France as a travel destination. I wonder how much of this is generated by movies such as "Paris Je t'aime", "La Vie en Rose (La Mome)" and even "Ratatouille".
Any opinions?

Christina

What do you mean by renewed, France has always been one of the top travel destinations in recent years. I don't know what you mean about the exchange rate, it sounds like you mean against the US dollar but your post doesn't say anything about Americans specifically and, I could be wrong, but I thought you were Canadian. So have Canadians not been going to France and has the CAD dropped against the euro?

Anyway, the exchange rate would be against the euro, not just for France, and I personally don't think those movies have anything whatsoever to do with it. First, Ratatouille just came out so couldn't have affected any travel plans. The other two are probably only of interest to those who really are interested in France and Paris to begin with, and are art-house movies -- I don't think they are going to affect the average American citizen in the heartland whatsoever.

NeoPatrick

Kind of a good question, but I'm not sure where you get the term "renewed" interest. I wasn't aware that travel to France by Americans had slacked off in the past couple of years. Had it?

Besides -- Ratatoille? Do Americans really want to go to Paris to see rats in the kitchen??? LOL

PalenQ

I think Robj could be speaking about the general public and not travel aficianados whose interest in France never flagged.

But it's the vast majority of would be and perhaps one-time travelers whose interest may be peeked, and certainly is, by such films.

Thus even though France is still popular with veteran travelers there could well be a surge in numbers of Americans going there - this also because the W inspired hysteria of 'freedom fries', etc. is waning.

So i agree with robjame

robjame

PQ summed up nicely my thoughts about renewed interest.
Christina - there is a belief that the Cdn$ has strengthened against the Euro, however if you check the charts over the last 18 months, it isn't so. Euro was better for us in May 2006.
Neo - but they were nice rats. LOL

j_999_9

I think the statistics show that there was a drop in US tourists to France right after the invasion of Iraq, but the number of visitors have been climbing since 2004.

I think the initial reaction to Iraq, plus the aftermath of 9/11, kept a lot of Americans away. All that has sort of cooled down.

Dukey

Well, there was certainly plenty of <b>talk</b> about not going to France including right here with all the &quot;freedom fries&quot; etc., etc. and people pretending to go only because one of the relatives was going!

For some of us the interest never died.

NeoPatrick

99.9% of the people I heard raving about how they would NEVER go to France in all that hullabaloo, are people who NEVER went to France anyway -- before or after the hullabaloo.

happytotravel

robjame: I was thinking that same thing. However I think I might just be thinking it because of my love for France, and anything having to do with France catches my eye. For example &lt;Rush Hour 3&gt; I never would have imagined myself saying I would want to see it, however now they are in Paris, and I probably would see it.
Meanwhile, I am just thrilled there are 2 french films &lt;Moliere&gt; and &lt;Mon Millieur Ami&gt; showing that I can see this weekend.

robjame

Is that any more lame than me going to see a cartoon - &quot;Ratatouille&quot; cause it is about Paris (and food)?
Tonight we are going to watch &quot;A Very Long Engagement&quot; (favourite actress).
Have you seen &quot;Good Cop, Bon Cop&quot;?

tower

Francophiles, Paris lovers:

The latest French flick is another Julie Delpy(&quot;Before Sunrise&quot..we saw it last night...&quot;2 Days in Paris&quot;...a barrel of hearty laughs...this supertalent wrote and directed and also composed some of the music! Adam Goldberg as her boyfriend is a &quot;find&quot;...
Stu T.

NeoPatrick

Stu, maybe you missed my post about seeing Two Days in Paris while we were in Paris. It was an odd thing. The movie was billed on the poster outside as VO (in English with French subtitles) and I confirmed with the guy when I bought by ticket &quot;is it in English&quot; to which he responded &quot;Yes, in English&quot;.
But as you must know more than half the movie is spoken in French -- the narration and all the scenes between the girl and her parents, and her friends. Those scenes did NOT have subtitles. Actually on the scenes spoken in English had subtitles -- in French of course.

So while I'm assuming the true &quot;original version -- VO&quot; had English subtitles for the French parts, this VO shown in Paris had removed them!

So I'm anxious to see the movie again her (or Netflix) where I'm sure they'll have English subtitles for the French parts.

And isn't Adam Goldberg great? I've seen him on many TV shows, and always remember him as the freaky temporary roommate that Chandler couldn't get rid of on Friends.

robjame

Neo - we had the same thing happen when we saw DaVinci Code in Paris. The part of the movie that was in French with English subtitles was just in French.
It stretches your French ability, n'est-ce pas?

tower

no, NeoP..I missed that post....yes, the US version has subtitles where required. We kept laughing all the way home last night..first thing this morning, my wife started to laugh about one of the scenes...great moviemaking.

Stu T.

danon

I am not sure, but I believe most of the films mentioned so far have NOT been made in Hollywood!

cigalechanta

I want to know what Patrick thought of two days in Paris. One NYTime review a week ago along with the New Yorker didn't like it.
One review I suspect was negative that a woman would have the nerve To direct, To star in, give rolls to her real parents as her movie parents, her ex-boyfriend in real life is here in REEEL life. Even her REAL cat has a role and to top it all, she wrote the music, sang the closing song.
Right on Julie!!!

FauxSteMarie

It is inevitable that the low value of the dollar will encourage Europeans to visit the US. Travel to Europe by Americans and Canadians (whose currency is also down relative to the euro)is bound to be affected as well. For example, on prior trips to Europe I have bought a lot of things, but this year, I kept a firm hold on my credit cards and cash. I bought almost nothing in Austria and Hungary. I was well aware how little my dollars were worth vis a vis the euro. In my case, it was also a function of being older and envisioning downsizing as well. I already have enough stuff I should not have purchased and do not need more.

I can make no predictions as to what the statistics on travel will be but the US economy right now is very unstable. Look at the gyrations in the stock market. No one knows what the future will hold. Insecurity about how much money one will need in the future (especially in view of the extremely chaotic health care situation in the US and the current administration's ignoring of the problem) makes people reluctant to spend money on nonessential items. Long distance travel is one of those nonessentials--whatever people on this message board think.

All anyone on this board can do in the absence of good statistics is to talk about his personal opinion or anecdotal evidence. That sort of discussion proves nothing.

In the anecdotal evidence department, when I mentioned traveling to the US to Austrians, a couple of people said they would not travel to the US because they detest American politics. Whether those people would have considered traveling to the US absent Bush, I have no idea. This political thing can cut both ways. Some Austrians that I met, by the way, hadn't been to many European countries either.

I am only able to take the trips I take because I home exchange. I would never be able to justify staying in Europe for a month in hotels, nor could I afford it. That would be a small fortune. Home exchange makes traveling the world in comfort for a rock bottom price possible for me.

cigalechanta

Patrick???

PalenQ

Speaking of Da Vinci code - that book and movie spurred interest in Louvre and other places in them

Eurostar actually issued a Da Vinci code promo and even Fodor's i think had a special Da Vinci Code book.

Don't undersetimate popular culture and the effect on ordinary folk.

That said i'm out of touch with those films, which i think may not have the mass appeal that would make such an influence.

laverendrye

&lt;&lt;Have you seen &quot;Good Cop, Bon Cop&quot;?&gt;&gt;

No, but I have seen &quot;Bon Cop, Bad Cop.&quot; Is it a sequel??