This document discusses the potential tourism relevance of various French government ministries and commissions under the newly formed Sarkozy government. It analyzes how each ministry could impact tourism through their responsibilities such as poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, regional development, foreign relations, economic policy, immigration, agriculture, education, urban planning, and culture. Developing coherent macroeconomic policy across these diverse areas that also trickles down to local governments could prove difficult given the complex interrelationships between factors and competing interests.

1. French Ministries and their Tourism Relevance?
Some Answers
Consider each of the following Ministries / High Commissions in the newly-formed
Sarkozy government:
Which of them have potential Tourism relevance, and WHY? (give as many
reasons as you can) Which has the legal responsibility for Tourism within its
portfolio?
• High Commission for Active Solidarity against Poverty.
• People in poverty cannot afford holidays.... possibly means the State might
have to afford a form of Social Tourism
• People assisted INTO work have the opportunity to engage in Leisure and
Tourism with the disposable income left to them once the bills have been paid.
• Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Planning and Development
• All industries SHOULD be made more sustainable:
• Tourism has a BIG environmental impact: CO2 from transport (esp. Air
transport).... you can’t have Tourism without transport!
• Direct effect of Tourism activities
• Over-development, heavy energy use
• Sheer weight of numbers on sensitive sites... etc
• Ministry of the Interior, Overseas France and Local Authorities
• Local authorities are behind Regional/Departmental destination development,
management, information provision and promotion. They also control
budgets for local amenities that act as attractors of Tourism, like events,
sports, arts and heritage facilities, townscape.....
• Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
• Sets the image of the country abroad, with associated impacts – for example
the French state’s initial direct and very public opposition to the war in Iraq
rendered France ‘Unamerican’ for while => a disinclined market for Paris?
• Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment
• Sponsors and directs the economic health of French industry: better
performing industry  more jobs and job security  more Tourism spending
on holidays and business Tourism (it works the opposite way around too!)
• The economic health of the nation (in part) assists the value of the Euro
against other currencies:
• A fall in Euro value increased visits and spend from higher value
currency nations
• A rise in the Euro value  fall in visits and lower spend by lower value
currencies
• If taxation changes (TVA/VAT, employers or employee taxes, there will be
a direct effect upon employment and upon disposable income and
therefore upon Tourism.
• Ministry of Immigration Integration, National Identity and Co-Development
• Immigrants tend to travel ‘home’ or to have a lot of visitors from home =
increased tourist activity between the French old colonies and France.

2. • Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
• France is the world capital of food and wine  anything that affects food and
wine production and pricing is going to directly affect the Tourism experience
and perhaps the image of the destination as well.
• Ministry for Labour, Labour Relations and Solidarity
• Ministry for National Education
• Education changes who we are, what we feel, what we believe and what we
want......some examples:
• Greater languages fluency...more willingness to travel
• Greater understanding of sustainability – greater propensity to buy
sustainable travel and Tourism (as opposed to mass market products).
• More in higher education  broader interests+ higher incomes 
education taking a greater role in Tourism (not just entertainment).
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Health, Youth and Sport
• Greater lifelong interests in health and sport  greater interest in and
capacity for more active rather than passive holidays.
• Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs
• Cities are increasingly becoming Tourism destinations: major state-sponsored
urban renewal and regeneration programmes can transform entire cities and
their accessibility, desirability, their Tourism infrastructure and economic
base.
• Ministry for Culture and Communication
• Culture is a major Tourism asset: a significant destination differentiator. The
more French culture ‘conquers’ the world  the greater the interest in
France as a destination.
• Ministry for the Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service.
Given your answers to the above, can you foresee any difficulties for the state to
develop coherent macroeconomic policy for Tourism and see that it is
implemented consistently both across ministries of state and cascaded
downwards to the regions and local government?
Macroeconomics is essentially about defining, developing and implementing
politically-driven policies which achieve governmental aims and objectives by
adjusting prevailing economic conditions. This can be as dramatic as intervening in
the market to influence interest rates or to raise revenue or facilitate supply or demand
activity by means of changes to the taxation system. At the other end of the scale,
government subsidies for, say, training can improve skill levels, reduce
unemployment and increase industry competitiveness. The problem is that there is
never enough national ‘cake’ for the state to do everything: what it does it then
moderated by importance, urgency and political expediency. Sometimes what the
state does is a double-edged sword: it supports some groups / industries / interests and
at the same time negatively affects others.