Tourists flock to Côte d'Azur
France's famous Côte d'Azur saw a significant increase in the numbers of tourists visiting this summer, according to figures out on Thursday.
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Five million people spent their vacation on the glamorous stretch of southeastern France known as the Côte d'Azur, enjoying mostly good weather in June July and August.
Always popular with the Italians and the British, this year saw a boom in Chinese and Russian visitors, and a six per cent increase in the overall number of tourists to the area, compared with last year.
Tourism is a key sector in the south of France, employing 75 thousand people, or 18 per cent of all jobs in the Alpes-Maritimes region alone.
Industry analysts point to unrest in North Africa as one of the reasons why so many holidaymakers chose the Côte d'Azur, as well as less favourable weather on some of France's other coastlines.
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