法國巴黎加強安保措施 消除中國遊客疑慮

France said on Friday it would work harder to safeguard tourists in Paris after a spate of muggings of Asian visitors made such headlines in China that the Chinese embassy demanded action.

Interior and Tourism Ministers Manuel Valls and Sylvia Pinel said on a tour of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower that 200 police had been put on patrol to protect tourists and steps were being taken to help foreigners prevent and report crime.

France is the world's most-visited country and solid tourism revenues are a bright spot in its depressed economy.

But reports of pickpockets and muggers targeting Chinese tourists have soared of late, tarnishing the French capital's image as a favored destination for love-struck couples and high-end shoppers.

"Paris is a safe city. What we want to say today is: tourists and friends from all over the world, come to Paris, welcome to Paris, bienvenido a Paris!" Valls told journalists.

Petty crimes against Chinese nationals jumped 22 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, a Paris police official told Reuters. He said Asian tourists were targeted because they were known to carry a lot of cash on them.

Staff at the Louvre went on strike in April over a surge in pickpockets, shutting the world's most-visited museum for a day.

Security guards say Chinese tourists visiting France for the first time seem to get more easily distracted than more seasoned European tourists when gazing at works like the Mona Lisa.

Police recently issued a "Guide to staying safe in Paris" - translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish - advising tourists to carry a minimum of cash, favor small banknotes and watch out for gangs of teenagers, commonly from eastern Europe, who pick pockets while conducting phoney petitions.

At the Louvre, tourists can now file legal complaints directly on site in 16 languages without going to the police.

Some 1.4 million Chinese visited France last year, up 23 pct from 2011. Millionaires in China rate it their top destination.

But a group of 75 French luxury brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior and Hermes warned in May that Chinese buyers, the world's top spenders, risk favoring London or Milan as they view Paris as dangerous.

In March, a group of 23 Chinese were robbed within hours of landing in Paris. In June, six Chinese wine-making students were assaulted in Bordeaux in an attack Valls called "xenophobic".

The Chinese embassy has pressed French authorities in recent months to address the issue, which was also raised when Socialist President Francois Hollande last traveled to China in April to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping.

Jean-Francois Zhou, head of Ansel travel agency which runs tours to and from China, said he advised clients not to take the metro or leave their hotel at night. His tour guides pepper their talk with warnings like "pickpockets to your right".

"It's a killjoy," he said. "These visitors have big dreams about Paris but things like this smash their illusions."據英國媒體8月2日報道，法國政府2日表示將進一步加強對巴黎遊客的安保工作。此前，巴黎發生多起亞洲遊客遭搶劫事件，成爲中國的焦點新聞。中國大使館要求法國方面採取措施。

法國內政部長曼努埃爾•瓦爾斯和旅遊部長西爾維婭•皮內爾當天在視察盧浮宮和埃菲爾鐵塔時說，法國方面已派出200名警員進行巡邏，並且正採取措施避免此類事件再次發生。

巴黎警方最近發佈了《巴黎旅遊安全指南》，建議遊客儘量少帶現金，鈔票面值最好比較小，還要留意青少年團夥，他們通常來自東歐。該冊子譯有中文、日語、韓語和西班牙語版本。現在，盧浮宮提供16種語言的法律投訴服務，遊客可當場直接投訴，而無需去警局。

瓦爾斯對記者說：“巴黎是個安全的城市。我們今天想說：世界各地的遊客和朋友們，來巴黎吧，巴黎歡迎你們！”

法國遊客數量爲世界之最，穩定的旅遊收入是低迷的法國經濟的一大亮點。巴黎一直爲熱戀中得情侶和高端消費者所親睞，但近來中國遊客在巴黎遭遇扒手和劫匪的報道驟然增多，使其形象大跌。一位巴黎警官告訴英國媒體，今年第一季度針對中國籍遊客的輕度犯罪比一年前增長了22%。他說，罪犯瞄準亞洲遊客是因爲知道他們身上攜帶有大量現金。

法國是中國百萬富翁的首選旅遊地。去年法國約有140萬中國遊客，比2011年上升了23%。但是，包括香奈兒、路易·威登、迪奧和愛馬仕在內的75個法國奢侈品牌5月份發出警告稱，作爲世界頂級消費者的中國顧客更願意去倫敦或米蘭，因爲他們覺得巴黎很危險。

今年3月，一個23人的中國旅遊團在抵達巴黎後僅幾個小時就遭到搶劫。6月，6名釀酒專業的中國留學生在波爾多遇襲，瓦爾斯將此事定性爲“排外”。中國大使館近幾個月來一直在向法國當局施壓，要求解決這一問題。今年4月，法國總統奧朗德與中國國家主席習近平會見時，也談及了這一問題。

經營着往來中國的旅遊業務的法國安塞爾旅行社社長讓—弗朗索瓦·周（音譯）建議說客戶晚上不要乘坐地鐵或離開旅館。他的導遊經常警告遊客，比如“扒手就在你的右邊”。他說：“這很煞風景。這些遊客對巴黎有美好的憧憬，但往往因這樣的事情而敗興。”