France on Pace for Record 104 Million Visitors as Visa-Free Access Widens

France welcomed more than 102 million international visitors in 2025, confirming its position as the world’s most visited country, according to an Atout France report. The national tourism agency and industry trackers now expect the country to push past that record in 2026, with projections pointing to around 103.7 to 104 million arrivals and roughly EUR80 billion in foreign tourism receipts, an average spend of about EUR769 per visitor.

The 2025 milestone was driven by strong demand from major international markets, improved transport connectivity and a tourism offer that stretches well beyond Paris, with growth recorded in Provence, Brittany and the Alps alongside smaller cities and rural regions.

A wider door for visitors

Underpinning the 2026 forecast is an expanded visa-free network: France now allows visa-free entry to citizens of around 93 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, South Korea and a range of Gulf, Latin American and Caribbean nations. The expansion reflects a broader diplomatic and economic push to make France easier to visit for travellers from fast-growing outbound markets, adding to established visa-free arrangements with fellow European countries such as Switzerland and Norway.

Volume giving way to value

Even as arrival numbers climb, French tourism officials have signalled that the country’s strategy is shifting from chasing ever-higher visitor counts toward extracting more value from each trip, through longer stays, higher spending and better distribution of visitors across the country’s regions rather than concentration in Paris alone. The country’s top airports illustrate the scale of the infrastructure supporting this growth, with Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly alone handling more than 100 million passengers between them in 2025.

Why it matters

France’s continued dominance as the world’s top tourism destination, even as global arrivals growth slows elsewhere, shows how visa policy and destination marketing can offset broader headwinds such as high travel costs and regional conflicts affecting other parts of the world. For French hospitality businesses, from hotels to regional tour operators, sustained growth in both visitor numbers and per-visitor spending offers a rare combination that many competing destinations are struggling to match this year.