During the previous five-year period, tourism depended on the Quai d’Orsay.
Tourism professionals said to themselves “satisfiedon Thursday when they learned that their sector is attached to the Ministry of the Economy but hope to have a deputy minister or a secretary of state after the legislative elections of June 12 and 19.
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Tourism, which represents 8% of GDP, was absent from the government of Elisabeth Borne appointed on May 20. According to the award decrees published Thursday, the sector comes at the back of the pack in the attributions of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. During the previous five-year period, tourism depended on the Quai d’Orsay.
Being attached to Bercy “is no surprise“, reacted to AFP René-Marc Chikli, president of the union of French tour operators (Seto) who underlines the importance “aid from Bercyduring the pandemic. “This takes nothing away from saying that what is important is to have a minister. We have hope for after the legislative elections“, he added. “Our wish was to have a minister directly attached to the Prime Minister because of the importance of the tourism file“, adds Jean-Pierre Mas, president of Travel Companies for whom “the positive side is that Bercy is where the money is“. “What matters now is the personality who will carry the file“, according to him.
“We would still like there to be some relations with Foreign Affairs”
“The promotion of France abroad is also to be taken into account and it is not in the remit of Bercy“, he remarks. “Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne who was Minister Delegate for SMEs and Tourism satisfied us“, he explains. The previous minister was indeed attached to the Quai d’Orsay and Bercy by his two attributions. For Hervé Becam, vice-president of Umih, the main organization of the hotel and catering industry, “it is a satisfaction to be attached to Bercy“. “It was our first request, but now having a delegate minister would be the least we could do to make up for the omission of the first Borne government.“, he told AFP.
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“It is with the Minister of the Economy that we have worked the most during this difficult period (the pandemic, editor’s note), to build aid for the sector and because the fight is not over: beyond recruitment and attractiveness, repayment of state-guaranteed loans (PGE) is a major concern for business leaders“, he adds. “We would still like there to be some relations with Foreign Affairs, because diplomats remain the best vector abroad, for the promotion of tourism in France”, he believes.