Bonjour! Have you ever dreamed about being a hero or heroine in a romantic story in France? Don’t hesitate and we’re leading you to a magic journey in France!
In this presentation, we’ll start with a general information, followed by French history and cultural perceptions. Language and religions come next and the most exciting part would be food and wine. After the high art and music have been appreciated, you’ll have the chance to have a glance on the French lifestyle. Let’s start!
France is country with an extensive territory of over six hundred thousand square kilometers, and a population of 65 million. Paris, its capital, is well-known for its ever-lasting fashion and beauty.
Though much influenced by English, French is still the official language in France. With Catholicism being the state religion, Islam and Buddhism are the second and third largest religion in the country. It is recognized as the most popular tourist destination in the world, with over eighty million tourists every year, generating a considerable profit as six percent of the country’s GDP.
History has always been the root of culture. About 1000 B.C., the Gauls invaded France. They are regarded by the French as their true ancestor. The Gauls ruled until the Romans became the new rulers of France in about 52 B.C. Under the rule of the Romans, France became the flowering example of Latin culture. The Roman established an urban civilization, with the capital and new cities, connected by a magnificent road networks. Many architectural monuments have survived to this day as well.Source of Picturehttp://www.ams.fr/ModuleAgenda/indexCategorie.asp?intIdEvenement=50&strFileXML=Evenement-fr-prochainement.xml&intIdRubrique=6
In the 5th century, a Germanic tribe, the Francs, became the master of Gaul and gave France her name. Three hundred years later, Emperor Charlemagne restored order to a divided and disorganized land. With all political and religious power in his hands, and surrounded by thinkers and writers in his court, Charlemagne created an enlightened culture.Source of picture:http://webpages.charter.net/gooup/View/Civic_Arms/Charlemagne/charlemagne.html
The Norman invasion led to the creation of a feudal system dominated by lords .These lords loved hunting and tournaments. A long-lasting reminder in France of the Normans presents 72 scenes that tell the story of the Norman conquest of England. The tapestry now hangs in the Museum of Bayeux in Normandy.
The Hundred Years Warwas the intensification of the rivalry between England and France. It took them nearly a century to retake Paris. Joan of Arc inspired the successful French counteroffensive against the English. She convinced King Charles Seven that she had been sent by God to save France from the English. One year later, she was burned at the stake in Rouen. Joan of Arc symbolizes French patriotism and she has become a national icon.Source of Picture: http://images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/17/26c.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/17/12.html&usg=__5_BeKfdnlCeruHoTeH4eZ6fPoeY=&h=500&w=391&sz=154&hl=zh-TW&start=8&um=1&tbnid=doFGPrOdtDc2FM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJoan%2Bof%2BArc%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26lr%3D%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ZH-TWHK337%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
The French Renaissance is an era of refinement and humanism. The Bourbon Monarchy started to rule the country and reached its peak in the 17th century when Louis the Fourteenth came to power. His palace and surrounding gardens were built over 50 years at Versailles. Today, this great palace is still a focus for people visiting France. During the Renaissance, there were rapid development of new techniques and artistic forms in the fields of printing, architecture,painting, sculpture, music, scienceand literature. Source of Picture:http://enchantedtraveler.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/great-day-trips-from-paris-versailles/
The French Revolution took power from the nobility and gave it to the common people. It also swept away the institutions of the feudalism, the absolute monarchy, and the Church. This important revolution also caused the death and replacement of royalty and the rich. The socialism was brought back in control by Napoleon. The revolution did affect French tourism nowadays, as the world’s most visited monument – the Eiffel Tower was built for the celebration of the French Revolution.
France attended the First World War since Germany declared war on France in 1914. After five years, Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919. France became a popular place for visiting in 1920s. Nevertheless, Germany under Hitler was again at war with France and they occupied the northern two thirds of France. On June 6, 1944, Allied troop landed in France at Normandy, two months later, they entered Paris. The War finally ended after a year. Though the war caused great damage to France, it is now the opportunities for tourism. The Commemorative activities of Normandy Invasion attracts millions of tourists.
Culture, especially high-end culture, accounts significantly for France as a popular destination. However, France’s national identity were not a natural given one. It became truly national only in the last years of the nineteenth century.It is surprising but true that France remained a rural country for much long. Despite its rapid modernization, the real French culture should be traced back to the folk culture.Greatly influenced by the historical events, high power distance came into being. Intellectual and academics became the most respectable social class. Real forms of behavior, carried out by the majority of people, are actually silent and get no recognition at all.At the present time, leisure is for almost everyone,especially when you’re exposed to thousands of fashion magazines, detective novels and love stories.
Glories never faded in this giant country. Even though it is faced with a declining power in economy and politics, France remains its dignity in its great contribution to the world culture. The State takes it seriously of the protection of French language and culture from foreign corruption, and being equally serious in the promotion of French culture abroad.
Herecomes to French people’s cultural perceptions.Their perceptions determinetheirbehaviors. So itplays an equally important role in the hospitality and tourismindustry.
The French are proud of theirown country, withrich cultural heritage. Theythinktheircivilizationissuperior to all others. Sometimestheyeven show sympathy to thosefromother nations and cultures. The impacts of French-style ethnocentrismmightbethathotels and restaurants in France always have strong French cultural flavor, fromtheirdesign to the service provided. Anotherveryobvious impact is cultural tourism in France. Cultural tourismisverymuch a part of French education and socialization.Often a familywillspend part of its vacation in one of the regional green Michelin guides whilereadingaloud the guide’sexplanation of the places’ cultural significance. Itis not only for fun, but more like a process of enhancing a sense of confidence and pride in theirown culture.
The family unit isextremely important at all levels of French society. French familyisinward-looking and tried to exclude the outside world. French children are stillcloselyattached to their parents. As a result, extended network of adultsprovidesvaluable social and career support as the children move through adolescence and begin to enter the work force. Parents in France exercise strict authority over theirchildren, whichnaturallyleads to tension and rebellion. The impact of this on hospitalityindustrymaybe the popularity of family-orientedproducts and services provided in France.Banquetsmaybeverypopular in France since the extendedfamilygathers on many occasions.
Whenitcomes to Frenchperception of friends, we have a lot to say. The French are famous for theirbeingromantic and outgoing.Theyenjoy meeting and chattingwiththeirfriends in theirspare time. However, theymake a clear distinction betweenfriends and acquaintances.Friendshipdevelopedonlyafter a considerableamount of time. Theyusually have only a few close friends and expectloyalty and sincerityfromeachother. They tend to have asimilar social background. The hospitalityindustrywillcertainlymeettheirneeds. There are manycafe shop bars in France, sotheycan have gathering .Cafeevenbecome one of the best-knownsymbols of French lifestyle and is of great social importance in France. Customers show theirformal respect to the waiters and owners of the cafes. In addition, if a hotel or a restaurant in France wants to buildfriend-likerelationshipwiththeircustomers, loyalty and sincerity to customersisextremely important.
The French will rarely talk too much about their wealth. They are mainly conservative about money. As a result, the atmosphere and design of hotels in France is always quiet and elegant, which represents their low-key character. Cultural artifacts are widely used as decorations in hotels and restaurants, representing respect and status among the middle-class.
The French have their own concept of punctuality. Due to the relatively loose lifestyle, it is accepted to arrive a little late for a personal appointment, and guests may arrive up to half an hour after the agreed time for a dinner at a home without causing irritation to their hosts. So, the hotels and restaurants in France may be more tolerant to those late-coming customers who have completed reservations, and time management in the hospitality industry is relatively loose as well.
Due to the highly theoretical education and the steep hierarchies, the power distance is high in France, which is the cause of the typical French management style in hospitality industry. French hotel and restaurant managers claim authority over their staff, building formal distant relationships with their subordinates.
The most striking feature of French is the division between its spoken and written forms. Written forms tend to be more formal and they have failed to catch up with the development of spoken language. Therefore, it is not effective to use colloquial language in all occasions. Be careful in selecting the words when you are going for a formal gathering. Even for the tourists, casual communication is not safe all the time.
The second discrepancy lies between the supposed “standard” French and the form spoken by the majority of the population. There are more than 400 regional languages in France and typically, a regional French speaker will have vocabulary and pronunciation not known outside the area. It may be challenging for the non-French speakers, even perfect French speakers, to explore the various rural areas in France due to the discrepancy. But for those open-minded travelers, they may be willing to appreciate the diversity.
With French losing its international significance to English, a debate is aroused about the preservation of French language. The French government has enforced a law mandating the use of French in all official publications, advertisements and commercial contracts. Although most of the directions in Paris are supplemented with English, it is not surprising to find a road sign without a single English word even in some urban areas, resulting in some inconvenience for tourists.
Catholicism is the primary religion in France and also being the greatest contributor in the religious architectures. And Islam being the second largest with its distinct style of catering services.
The Chartres Cathedral is known as the most beautiful religious architecture in the world, with a typical Gothic design. Likewise attractive to tourists is the Notre-Dame Paris, where the love story under a famous writer flourished. They are appreciated worldwide regardless of the initial religion carried.
The French Muslim population is the largest in Western Europe. Most of the Muslims comply strictly to the tradition, which in Arabic is called “Sallaf”. Hijabs are put on and Ramadan is followed. Large numbers of Islamic restaurants began to flourish in France, where tourists are given a chance to experience their unique culture.
Here comes the most attractive part of speech, French food. Referred to as the eighth art, French cuisine is famous around the world and counts a lot on hospitality and tourism industry.
French gastronomy is the history and geography of a passion. The major characteristics of French cuisine are refinement and diversity.
It is said that the Italian chef Marie inspired the beginning of the French fine cooking. However, it is under the absolute monarchy of Louis the Seventh that French cooking reached new heights. Under Louis Seventh the importance of etiquette and the art of table conversation became a national institution. The great gastronomic revolution was due to the another French cook. He opened the first restaurant in Paris in 1765. After that, great cuisine came to the streets.
The elements of geographical and climatological determined the diversity of French gastronomy. Every city has its unique food, include Brittany, Alsace and the Northeast, Provence and the Mediterranean coast.
here is a food map for you to choose when travel around France to explore the regional cooking.
Like fashions, food in France is subject to trends. France has two famous restaurant guides, the Michelin Red Guide to France and the GaultMillau Guide France.They are taken extremely seriously by the French and the rest of the culinary world. Inclusion or exclusion in these guides can make or break a restaurant’s reputation. Regional cooking offers varieties of French food for the travellers.
The most typical ones includeTruffile , FoieGras , Caviar , Cheese and Chocolate, Bread and Pastries. They gain great reputation and sometimes became the symbol of French gastronomy.
As for modern eating,French cuisine is maintaining its popularity despite the increased international competition. With great attention to the sources of the cuisines ,the French food is balanced, healthy and strictly structured. When it is faced with the American fast food, it is still in an advantage situation. What’s more, the French are inspired to develop their own fast food such as Quick chain, respondingto their American counterpart.
French wines and liqueur are famous throughout the world. France is the second largest wine producer, but the top consumer.
French gastronomy is a marriage of food and wine. Most French houses and apartment buildings have a cave where wine is stored. One of the famous restaurants in Paris has 500,000 bottles of wine stored in its cellar, with 9,300 different types of wine to choose from.
As for other beverage in France, water ,juices and beer also play a very important role. For example,the French drink a large quantity of mineral water and choose their water as carefully as they choose their wine.
The impacts on hospitality and tourism are obvious. Large numbers of tourists flooded in for the French cuisine. As for hospitality industry, the hotels offer full-service can impress their guests by extraordinary food and beverage, especially for brand recognition of international hotels of France. When hotels of France expand the market in other countries, it is good opportunity for them to attract customers by providing authentic gastronomy with high standard as they do in France.
France is also considered as the hub of arts and music. It is a country with rich art elements, which have significant impacts on the hospitality industry. Nowadays, France, especially Paris, has a lot of famous art museums and theatres which attract millions of touristsworldwide.French architecture also affects the hotel’s outlook and indoor decoration.
French art can be divided into two forms, visual art (including paintings) and plastic art (such as architecture and ceramics). Many experts believe that French art began with Pre-Romanesque Art, Romanesque Art, and Gothic Art.
Since the Lascaux cave was discovered in 1940, experts believe that French visual art started in the Late Stone Age. The Lascaux cave paintings have made the little village a tourist hot spot, to view the paintings that are more than 10,000 years old.
Although French art can be traced to 15,000 years ago, most artistic sides of the French are seen in paintings of recent centuries. Every century has gifted France with invaluable painters and artists. It is said to be the home of many renowned artists like Edgar Degas, a famous French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, a leading French Impressionist painter that is most famous for his landscapes, seascapes, and garden scenes, Pierre-Auguste, a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. The artistic richness of France is exhibited in various museums of France like Louvre, Picasso and Osray Museum, they are important tourist spots in France.
The most well-known museums is the Louvre Museum. It is the largest national museum in France and has 35,000 to 40,000 items on display. The famous “Mona Lisa” is now exhibited in the Louvre. The Museum itself is a historic monument, which makes it the most visited museum in the world.
France is renowned for its beautiful and extraordinary monumentsinfluenced by Roman, Gothic and Italian architecture.France has the finest architecture creations in Europe. Some of the main attractions for tourists are the Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, with Eiffel Towerbeing the most visited paid monument in the world.
French architecture also affectsthe style and decoration of hotel building.TheCastille Paris Hotel is inspired by the traditional architecture and decorated with priceless artifacts and exotic furniture. The Artus Hotel, traditional decoration is preferred over faddish decoration.
France is also the centre for European music, especially the operas. The most well-known and popular opera, Carman, was composed by a French composer. The prevalence of opera in France led to the construction of theatres, which now become tourist attractions in France,such as the PalaisGarnier.
The journey comes to a stage where you are given a chance to experience the ordinary French lifestyle.
Life fulfilling is their motto,they focus on quality of life instead of VALUE.They enjoy food,friend and fun. In fact french is also famous for its laziness .they work only 35 hours a week and may have 2 hours for lunch .. nothing is in a hurry.. they don’t really care about their work but their life. As a result once french are dissatisfied with their working condition, ,they will go on astrike and demonstrate their Desire.
For the impact, some characteristic may cause inconvenience to tourists..As most french are less willing to work ,many shops would close at 7 pm.No opening is on sunday or public holidays….LAstly,as mentioned before,french like strikes. Especially at paris, it ishanddicapping the transportation, business and tourist activities, ALL these deduct tourist satisfaction.
For sport, Football is the most popular sport among the french, people enjoy playing and watching matches. francenurishes many famous players like zidanehenry,.and with many wonderful playes. Its national football team was the winner of 1998 worldcup.For the local football team, there are still some famous team like paris saint germin.
tennis is the second popular sport in france.once a year,a big tennis event “french open” will be held at paris from mid-may toearly june. it attracts local citizens and tourists from all over the world.
as for the impact of sport .obviously it helps to buster the tourism and hotel industry of france.eg the supporter will travel for their favorite team or to enjoy high quality matches once a year. During may and june,france is one of the populardestinationdue to the Fomula One .the french open is to be held at paris,Thefrench tourism office can make use as a grimace to attract people.during the period of championship,there is an intense hotel booking in the host city
when we mention France ,the word fashion spring into mind,Fashion is an important industry and culture export since 17th cenutry. France nurish many well-known fashion designers like coco channel ,christianDior. In fact the modern Haute culture, expensive high dress making was orginated in paris,thus some may say france is the house of worldly top designers and fashion. The paris fashion week takes place twice a year, it attracts many celebrities and press all over the world to paris,.Of course as an origin of fashion ,french like dressing up themselve,esp the parisien
Fashion on doubt, greatly affects its tourism, Firstly, as an origin of many luxury brands, it helps to develop its image as shopping paradise .More updated products are provided with a reasonable price. During the fashion weeks, hotels are fully booked, which is quite lucrative a market.
NOw I m gonna talk about the big difference between the city life and rural life in france.Paris, as the capital of france, is a cultural melting point. people of different nationalities comes to paris. The working-class are mostly Africans..As a big city,the night life in PAris is wonderful but the human relationship is not close as expected. Most of them are too indulged in their own business.ParisienALways say DODO MEtro BOULET, which means sleeping subway and working. It is a typicalweekday of a parisien.
On the other hand ,the ruaral life in france is totally different.eg like AVIGNON, andNancy. There are less population, people are comparatively more friendly and simpler with more fresh air andopen space
With the different lifestyle, during the weekends,parisien like driving to rural area for a short vocation,as an escape of busy city life. It helps to buster the tourism in rural areas. With the flourishing of Bed and breakfast, citizens are given a chanceto have a real taste of rural quiet life.
We have read through quite a number of materials when preparing this presentation. Here are some of them.
France is such a magic country where romance comes to stage and stays. It is also a culturally attractive destination with its distinguished cuisine, art and music. That’s the end of our presentation. Hope you’ve enjoyed the journey!