Originally Posted by
jbcarioca
As some have already suggested I think the answer is to be found in two factors:
1) more competition from more places;
2) high costs.
Language may be a small factor as may be cultural jingoism. Those two factors affect almost everywhere, not just France. The advent of really cheap, high volume tourism has gradually eroded the share fo traditional destinations, but probably not the actual tourist numbers.
I am biased in favor of France as a destination because I have had a house there for more than 25 years, but it is only realistic that as more formerly inaccesible places such as China develop better infrastructure and more flights the sare of the traditional and wonderful destinations must decline, and so it goes.
Nothing is wrong here in France, apart from high prices, IMO.
I actually don't find France that expensive if you compare the cost of living to let say Ireland and the Nordic Countries which have a fantastic tourism. In Norway alone a hot dog and a soft drink would easily set you back at least EUR 15 and if your lucky enough to be hooked on nicotine a pack of 20 cigarettes would easily set you back another EUR 10. That's twice the price of what it would set you back in France.
Ireland is a very popular tourist destination mainly because half of The US population are Irish genetically. I'm bringing up the Irish example as I lived there for the last 10 years and found the cost of living very high compared to France. OK these are only a few extreme examples and there are of course much cheaper places one could go to, but I don't think pricing is the main thing. London has always done well, and it's expensive as well compared to the standard on offer.
I might be wrong, but Paris is probably a bit more expensive that rural France but demand steers the pricing, I'm made believe, so it all comes down to what tourists are willing to pay for their bottled water etc...
I could also imagine that as people get to travel more and more they have done France and/or other more exotic places have opened up. Do people return to the same place over and over again as it was the norm a decade ago? The former Eastern block of Europe has so much on offer culture wise, where France once was dominating before. Budapest is one good example.