Despite increasing competition for the tourist pound, dollar and euro, France still regularly attracts enormous amounts of visitors from around the world.
According to the World Tourism Organization, France receives more foreign visitors per year than any other country - some 76 million in 2006. This is followed by Spain with 55 million, the US with 50 million and China with 47 million. Italy completes the top 5 with 37 million (just ahead of the UK).
And whilst Time Square was the most visited place in 2006 with 35 million tourist visitors, the top 50 most visited places compiled by Forbes Traveller includes 7 attractions in France:
9. Notre Dame, 12 million
10. Disneyland Paris, 10.6m
11. Sacre-Coeur, 8.2m
15. The Louvre, 7.5m
18. The Eiffel Tower, 6.7m
25. The Pompidou Centre, 5.1m
45. The Palace of Versailles, 3.45m
Property investors from the UK bought around £24 billion worth of foreign property last year, new figures have revealed.
According to the Association of International Property Professionals, almost 242,000 purchases were made by British buyers last year, an increase of 21% over the previous 12 months.
Volumes were up but the value of transactions remained relatively the same. This was attributed to a number of factors, including the increasing popularity of countries that still offer relatively cheap properties compared to more established markets.
Despite a move towards less expensive markets, established locations such as Spain and France were still found to dominate the buyers’ decisions in attracting 25.4% and 17% of British purchasers respectively.
According to reports from industry experts, the French Atlantic Coast is becoming more popular with British holidaymakers.
Property-Abroad.com which specialises in offering overseas property for sale in worldwide destinations, stated recently that holidaymakers have discovered they can enjoy sunshine in France at a cheaper price than on the Mediterranean coast.
Les Calvert, director of Property-Abroad.com, said: “Areas that tend to be showing more interest than previously are Aquitaine on the Atlantic Coast. The Mediterranean has always been popular, but now the Atlantic Coast is catching up and visitor numbers to the Silver Coast in Portugal are also increasing.”
He stated that holidaymakers can get the same amount of sunshine in France for about “half the price” of going to Mediterranean destinations.
French property company VEF Group also said recently that environmental concerns are making France a more popular overseas investment destination and holiday location for UK residents as it can be easily accessed by modes of transport other than air.
In February, low cost airline easyJet announced a new flight to Palma, Mallorca, from East Midlands Airport three times a week.
easyJet already flies to Mallorca from Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted and Newcastle. With BMI Baby and Monarch also flying to the island, Mallorca is readily accessible from pretty much anywhere in the UK.
Mallorca is popular with both property buyers and holiday makers. With 300 days sunshine a year, 23 golf courses, 25 marinas and some of the most stunning scenery in Europe, it’s easy to see why. New roads in the north of the island have now made many of the picturesque mountain villages more accessible and the coast benefits from beautiful natural harbours.
And with a ban on the island on any development within 25 metres of the coast, if you’ve got a beachfront property with a stunning sea view, or got your eye on buying or renting one, then you can be confident little is going to get in the way of your picture postcard view.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, budget airline Ryanair is launching a new route in May between Bristol and Béziers.
Beziers, located in the beautiful Languedoc-Rousillon region of southwest France is already a favourite with UK travellers and property owners, the latter owning around 10% of all holiday homes in the area. The new Ryanair route brings the number of Languedoc airports with a direct connection to the UK to five.
Formally a little down at heel, Beziers is undergoing something of a renaissance and now boasts a host of smart wine bars and restaurants, including La Compaigne des Comptoirs run by Michelin-starred chefs Jacques and Laurent Pourcel.
It also hosts the world-famous Feria du Beziers, centred around bullfighting every August which attracts over a million visitors to the five day event.
A recent survey has found that the cost of living in Spain is cheaper than in the UK, particularly if you live like a local.
The survey discovered that an average couple can live on €644 per month (about £490.00) in addition to any rent or mortgage payments.
But it can be more expensive if you try to live on home favourites such as English bacon, marmalade and Branston Pickle. All these need to be imported into the country and naturally cost more than if you were to base your weekly grocery shopping on purely local produce.
The area that expats choose to live in can also affect cost of living. Established centres such as Barcelona and Madrid command a higher cost of living premium due to their superior infrastructure. Heading into less developed regions typically means there is a reduced living cost, though this is offset with there being possibly less developed infrastructures.
The expansion of low-cost airlines, such as easyJet, has meant that previously hard to reach areas of Spain are now much more accessible for holidaymakers.
The decision of many low-cost airlines to fly into smaller, regional airports in European countries has altered the traditional holiday landscape. Louise Hall, business director of Primelocation.com said, “Barcelona and the Costa Brava region as a whole have become more popular with UK holidaymakers over the last two to three years. Inland Murcia has again proven popular and Mallorca has experienced huge popularity in recent years, becoming an expensive jewel with large numbers of properties valued at £1m plus.”
From the end of March, British Airways is set to launch new short haul routes from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports to Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma and Gibraltar.
Recent reports in the International Herald Tribune suggest that two new airports are to be opened in Spain and Portugal to cope with increased tourist demand in new areas of each country.
The airport in Spain will be built in the Huelva province of southwest Spain, designed to improve access to the western Costa de la Luz, whilst the Portuguese airport will be located in Alcochete, just outside the capital, Lisbon. It aims to boost travel access to both the Silver Coast and the Algarve. Both airports are planned to be operational by 2012.
This is not only good news for holiday makers but also property investors. According to a recent study by Savills, holiday homes close to destinations served by low-cost airlines are, on average, 37% more expensive than those which are not.
France and Spain are still streets ahead of their rivals for UK-based property investors according to Louise Hall, business director at Primelocation.com, with over half of all UK investors buying overseas property in these top two destinations.
She says that investors look for a combination of factors, including good weather, good transport links, easy lifestyle and familiarity as well as ‘rentability’ to ensure a steady income stream, which is why France and Spain have been in positions one and two for so long.
“Portugal, Italy and Florida are the next in line but there is a big gap in property search volumes between the number two and number three positions, which has been consistent for a number of years”, she concludes.
Research by the Department of Communities and Local Government for the financial year 2005-06 found that 34% of holiday homes owned by Britons were in Spain and 23% in France.
Now you can let the train take the strain all the way to southern Spain. With the opening of the new international terminal at St Pancras in November last year, the final leg of the London-Malaga link has now been completed thanks to launch of a new high speed train service between Madrid and Malaga.
The opening of the Madrid-Malaga high speed line has taken 10 hours of the previous journey time so London to Malaga by train can now be done in just 21 hours, including a comfortable night’s sleep on the Elipsos sleeper service between Paris and Madrid.
Just imagine… no scrums at the airport, no cramped economy seats, no inedible in-flight meals and no lost baggage. It’s a more refined, more relaxing and a greener way to travel.
