The 7.4% rise in tourists from Asia swelled visitor numbers to 89.4million – a 3.3% increase on 2017 – generating revenue of €56.2billion
Visitors from India alone jumped 16%, while Japanese tourist numbers rose 11%, despite negative end-of-year international headlines sparked by the gilets jaunes.
The protest movement has been blamed in part for a 5.6% drop in hotel stays in the first two months of this year.