Paris is rich pickings for China's new elite

DROVES of Asians pour from buses into a side entrance of Galeries Lafayette, the venerable Parisian department store, and march into its duty-free boutique beneath a "Japan Welcome" sign. But these are not the flush Japanese of yore; they are mainland Chinese, now Paris's most sought-after tourists. We're from Wuhan," said Dina Li, 31, who is travelling with her mother. Since China put the European Union on its list of approved tourist destinations two years ago, the volume of Chinese sightseers to the Continent has surged, and France is their top destination. About 700,000 Chinese tourists visited France last year and the number is climbing annually. By 2020, the World Tourism Organisation estimates 100 million Chinese will make foreign trips each year.

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