Despite some tough global economic conditions, it said 2013 was an "exceptional year" for tourism in Paris and the surrounding Ile-de-France region, with foreign visitors at "the highest level in 10 years".

 

In all, some 32.3 million tourists flocked to the City of Lights, hotel figures suggest. Nearly 15.5 million of these were foreign visitors, representing an 8.2 percent increase from the previous year.

 

The largest number of foreign tourists were Britons – some 2.1 million visitors – followed by Americans, Germans, Italians and Chinese, whose numbers shot up by almost 53 per cent to 881,000.

 

The only black spot was a drop in Frenchclientele, some 7.5 per cent less than in 2012.

 

The figures came weeks after a row over which capital attracted the most tourists - London, or Paris.

 

Figures published in January showed the number of foreign visitors to London surged by almost 20 per cent last summer to a new record of 4.9 million between July and September.

 

"For the first time in history, the city [London] is on course to welcome over 16 million overseas visitors in one year," the British capital's tourism agency London &Partners said in a statement.

 

This led French right-wing daily Le Figaro to declare: "London dethrones Paris".

 

Boris Johnson, London's mayor, weighed in.

 

"These incredible figures prove that London is without doubt the greatest city on the planet," he extolled¹.

 

Anne Hidalgo, favourite to succeed Bertrand Delanoë, her fellow Socialist², as mayor of Paris in elections this month, then hit back at a "boastful" Mr Johnson, saying: "London aggressively sells itself, often in a way that goes beyond the truth."

 

She said Paris beats London hands down in tourism, start-ups, shopping, safety and as a place to live with families.

 

Later she toned down her comments, saying: "Yes, the two cities are competitors – but if we also work together, we can be a global partnership³ to reckon with."

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