I read an interesting article a while ago where people were being asked about their travel plans for 2010, after many had a ‘stay at home’ year in 2009. What people say and what they do are of course usually different but one interesting idea was mentioned a couple of times – people saying that they thought France was no longer ‘French’ enough (or foreign enough) to visit.
I’m not sure that French people would be thrilled to hear they weren’t French enough! Certainly France seems less ‘foreign’ to me now than it used to, but I’ve lived here for a long time, so I wonder how it is for everyone else.
When a town closes its traditional greengrocers and gift shops open instead; when there are more estate agents than butchers; when you are more likely to hear English voices in the market that French voices…all these things make you feel that you are somewhere less foreign.
All these things have happened in various towns in the popular tourist areas – but don’t forget that most of these areas became ‘popular tourist areas’ because they are also very beautiful, so there are still good reasons to visit. Almost everywhere I visit in France, even the most crowded tourist centres, have something fascinating to discover – that’s why they are crowded tourist centres!
When I first visited France in the late 1970′s it seemed very foreign and strange to me. I recall hearing that my grandfather travelled around France in the 1920′s – I imagine that travelling in France at that time was the equivalent of students in the 1960s setting off to find the Dalai Lama in the Indian foothills, and only for the very intrepid. So undoubtedly autoroutes, Ryanair, television etc have all played their part in making France less foreign – but is it enough to stop you visiting? If so why?
Someone in the article also mentioned they didn’t want to visit an ‘expat colony’ on holiday. I know that people’s views of France (and even more so Spain) changed with the whole ‘moving to France for a better life’ thing – but if you were left with the impression that France is now little more than a playground for the English then you are most certainly wrong, and presumably haven’t actually visited France…
It would be a scary thought if many people really did think France was like that, but I suspect the interviewer went to a lot of trouble to track down one of those people who ‘secretly wished they could live in France and deeply resent those who do’. I am aware that there are quite a few of this curious species – usually due to spending too much time reading the Daily Mail and watching too many happy people on Place in the Sun type programmes. There is no cure, but a week walking in the Correze might help.
Anyway, I can promise you that the English voices you hear will more likely be other tourists except in a very small number of towns. Wander around a French market outside summer and remarkably the voices you hear will be …French locals. Remarkably there are a great deal of French people who live in France!
So the paradox for a lot of attractive French villages is – if they change nothing at all, the young will all leave, businesses will close and certainly tourists won’t visit. But if they beautify themselves and create jobs for the young in the tourist industry – does the number of tourists visiting fall because of what they have done? Should it fall? I think not.
I guess that most people saying that ‘France isn’t French enough’ have not spent the last 20 years visiting small lost villages and now find they are all tourist resorts. But if I’m wrong, I suggest you keep looking because there are still thousands of ‘undiscovered’ small villages and towns out here that can only dream about becoming tourist destinations, many of them very attractive and very ‘French’.
And one last thought for the day. I was sent a press release and some tourist information from a village called Brancion the other day that wanted to be mentioned on the francethisway travel pages. Seems the village had made a conscious decision a few years ago to reinvent themselves as a tourist village, and have spent the the last five years carrying out the plan – improving buildings and amenities and generally beautifying themselves.
Question is – are they likely to get more visitors than before now, or less? And will their visitors go away saying ‘ah but it’s not the real France?’ Personally I prefer to see jobs created and National Heritage preserved than to watch a village die, whether it be in France, Britain or anywhere else. But is that wrong? And is it sufficient reason not to visit a country?
(Unfortunately I can’t recall where I read the original article so can’t refer back to it to see if I’m completely inaccurate in what I think I remember reading!)
The biggest disapointment to me is to walk into a French supermarker and see sliced bread, pre made sandwitches and all sorts. of Uk type stuff. So many small shops have closed just like GB.
The bread you used to buy was stale by lunchtime but now it lasts forever, so that has changed. So france has to accept that the more it becomes like everywhere else the less people like me will visit and decide not to live abroad but stay at home.
For us the quality of life and produce in mid Norfolk is as good if not better that anywhere we have lived in Germany ( thats easy) and I have to say France. What i now like the most about France is the space and you cannot top that.
I wonder what people are looking for when they say that France is not ‘French’ enough? I find that such a bizarre thing to say. I don’t live in a popular tourist area, but it is very beautiful and very, very French. And you are right, the voices I hear in the supermarket are almost exclusively…French. The people I work with and socialise with are…French. Whilst tourism boosts the economy, life continues after the visitors have gone and during most of the year I don’t hear any French people fretting about wether they are being French enough – they just ARE French. France is and always will be, stunningly beautiful and I think it will cope if a few misguided people decide to go else where for their holiday because they feel it is not ‘French’ enough.
I don’t live in a tourist area, but tourists who miss this area are mugs!
When I first explored France by train as a student I enjoyed the monuments. etc..then, exploring by car later, and talking to people, I began to enjoy the culture.
Unfortunately, for me, the culture,that of ordinary people, which I loved has gone, overtaken by ‘everyone for himself’, the culture so reminiscent of England under the Thatcher years.
L’embourgoisement has wreaked the same havoc as in the U.K.
I think what concerns people is that more and more countries are losing their individual character. With the loss of small family businesses and the increase of the large multinational organisations, its all starting to look the same.Product names are changed so the are the same across Europe. Car model names are now the same across Europe. Its less noticable in the more remote true rural areas, but even there some change is taking place. We have lost our local bakery, He closed down about a month ago. So we either make our own or buy from Waitrose. We now have the Euro so the Mark and Franc has gone with all the others.
I visit countries that are different to my own, The more things that become the same the less interesting it is. Its not that France is less French its just a more Euro type of country.I prefere individuality rather than what the EU is trying to turn us into.
Very good explanation, thanks Johnny. I think you’re exactly right about Euro countries becoming ever more similar and losing their individual character – though I’m not sure it’s the fault of the EU rather than businesses needing to be global to succeed.
Curiously New York seemed more ‘foreign’ to me than most European countries now do…
I consider the EU to be no more than another power mad global type of business. we want arrangements that make it easier to travel, sell our goods, share health service away from home, but not what the EU is doing by standardising every minor thing that affects our lives. The list is endless from the kinds of seeds we can buy to light bulbs. I hate this loss of each country being able to live the way it wants to. If it carries on the way it is it will all end in tears ( for them not me)You should follow Dan Hannon on you tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joFc3iC6q-8&feature=sub
If Franch is losing its traditional French appeal. I think one fact sums it up. Outside the USA the French MacDonalds is the most profitable in the world. Evey country has people that want tp appear “modern”. The trouble is they throw the baby out with the bathwater. I have spoken to many people about this.Most say France is not as ‘good’ as it used to be. What they mean by good is that it is less different to home.
It is certainly true that cafes and bars in France are ‘not like they used to be’ but I wonder if that is what most people really want when they go on holiday (rather than what they think they want)? If France transformed itself into how it was 30 years ago would people actually enjoy the lack of tourist amenities and sitting in smoky bars and cafes? I’m not sure they would.
It is our local pizzeria that is the busiest local restaurant, with locals and visitors alike, rather than the more traditional French restaurants in the neighbourhood that might offer the more ‘authentic French’ experience. If visitors are looking for something less like home (and I think that you are right about that) then why do they all go there?
Re MacDonalds, it’s a mystery how they are so profitable in France – they are still an unusual site in most French places, are kept to out of town developments rather than town centres, and my guess is the average person visiting the Dordogne, Provence etc won’t see a single MacDonalds during their visit. Someone once told me that the average spend in French MacDonalds is very high – people go expecting to spend the price of a ‘real meal’ rather than $2 on a burger – which maybe accounts for their profitability.
I think you’re right that people believe they want an ‘authentic French experience’ – but when they get here most people don’t really pursue the idea very much – they prefer for example to sit on the sunny cafe terrace with the other tourists rather than in the gloomy bar behind with the locals. But don’t we all?
It’s a tricky problem for both holidaymakers and tourist focussed businesses.
france is nowadays full of … [original entry edited]
Hi Rosabell, sorry I had to remove most of your post, I think a lot of people in France might have thought it was racist and would have objected to the words you chose. But your point deserves including…
Rosabella was suggesting that a large immigrant population in a country can change the nature of the country and that will lead to the country losing a part of its own national identity.
Surely true, and something that affects most western countries where people want to live, not just France.