A new survey has found that France continues to be the preferred destination for tourists.

The study -- which showed figures for France up from 83 million in 2012 -- is published annually by the economy ministry's DGCIS international competitiveness agency and by the central bank (Banque de France).
According to the report, France saw an increase in European tourists, of 1.2 percent on the previous year, driven by German and British visitors, although the number of tourists from Belgium, Luxembourg and crisis-hit Italy and Spain decreased.
After a big drop in 2012, North American tourists made a return, with the number of visitors crossing the Atlantic up by 5.8 percent.
However the biggest boom was seen in Asian visitors, with the number of Chinese tourists up by almost a quarter.
Asian tourists now number 4.5 million a year, up 13 percent, with Chinese visitor numbers in particular up by 23.4 percent to 1.7 million.
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But the report was not unremitting good news for the French tourism sector.
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Source-AFP