Parisians Promise to be Nicer to Tourists ... Again
Travel Blog • Alicia Imbody • 07.14.09 | 10:43 AM ET
Photo by As Parisian tourism continues to decline, the city’s tourist board has been addressing its residents’ reputation for being, well, less than welcoming to outsiders—the so-called Paris Syndrome. The plan to encourage travelers to return has nothing to do with the recession, and everything to do with attitude: “There’s nothing as telling as a smile,” Paul Roll, head of the tourist board, told Reuters. Teams of “smile ambassadors” are being strategically positioned at popular destinations to welcome visitors, and locals are implored to be more hospitable, a la Mayor Delenoe’s urgings before the first Paris Tourist Day two years ago.
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Mark 07.14.09 | 12:38 PM ET
Teams of “smile ambassadors” are being strategically positioned at popular destinations to welcome visitors——-ha ha—-you got to be joking
well maybe the rest of the world will benefit from the dont care attitude of the fatcats
Brandy 07.14.09 | 2:57 PM ET
I don’t know if I just got lucky or what, but during my visit to Paris while I was studying abroad I met lots of really friendly Parisians and felt very welcome. People honestly went out of their way to help me. Hopefully I’ll get to go back one day and see if I have the same experience.
Grizzly Bear Mom 07.14.09 | 3:23 PM ET
I was in Paris 09/2008. I learned 40 words of French before I left. Everyone was helpful or went out of their way to be so, particularly the Arabs probably because they had studied English. I had the same expereinces in Germany and Japan.
When I travel I go to expereince other’s culture, and don’t expect them to behave according to my mine. I liked seeing pet dogs on the Metro, and watching seated Koreans on public transport hold other passengers baggge.
On the other hand, I live in Washington DC and go out of my way to interact with tourists, give them directions, etc. Either I had great amounts invested in travel karma, or you get what you put out.
By the way, I was held up at gunpoint and pistol whipped by a notorious gang of bandits in Southern Italy. That didn’t deter my wanderlust. I just decided that I had expereinced “my violent crime for life” and that now I could go where ever and do whatever I wanted. I would imagine your expereinces in Paris would be more hospitable than mine in Italy.
Ling 07.15.09 | 9:49 AM ET
Most big cities are the same, in terms of being rude to visitors. Actually, it would be wrong to call it rude. It’s just a fast life, and being nice to tourists means slowing up, and missing a train or being late for work, etc. Would you be smiling and being nice if you were in that position? Tourists need to do a bit more research beforehand, so that they don’t need to ask stupid questions, or stare blankly when someone explains things fast.
Sophia Dembling 07.21.09 | 10:48 AM ET
Ah, the tyranny of the smilers .... Come visit us down here in the southern U.S., where you never know what those ubiquitous polite smiles mask. Bless your heart. I say power to the non-smilers…