France

Last update: October, 2026

The cultural and creative industries occupy a distinctive position within French cultural policy, at the intersection of artistic creation, economic activity and public regulation. The French approach has long combined recognition of culture’s economic contribution with the principle that cultural goods and services cannot be treated solely according to ordinary market logics. This dual perspective was notably expressed in the early 1980s under Minister of Culture Jack Lang, whose formulation “economy and culture, same fight” reflected a growing policy emphasis on the economic dimension of cultural activity without abandoning objectives of cultural diversity, artistic freedom and public access.

Since the late twentieth century, this approach has increasingly intersected with international and European debates on the “creative economy”. In France, however, the expansion of market-oriented cultural and creative activities has continued to coexist with extensive public intervention through regulation, sector-specific funding mechanisms, fiscal measures and support for non-market artistic production.

The scope of cultural and creative industries varies according to the statistical and policy framework used. In French public debate, the term generally covers sectors in which cultural content is produced and circulated on an industrial or commercial scale, including publishing and the press, cinema and audiovisual media, recorded music and video games. Broader definitions of the cultural and creative sectors may also include architecture, design, advertising, performing and visual arts, heritage and crafts. These differences in perimeter are important when comparing estimates of economic output, employment or value added.

The growing strategic importance attached to the cultural and creative industries has also been reflected in substantial cross-sectoral investment. According to the Ministry of Culture’s Cultural and Creative Industries overview (2026), EUR 1 billion in State investment has been mobilised for the sector, including EUR 400 million under the CCI acceleration strategy financed through the fourth Programme d’investissements d’avenir (PIA 4), a national investment programme supporting research, innovation and strategic sectors, and EUR 600 million through the Culture component of France 2030, the EUR 54 billion national investment plan launched in 2021 to accelerate innovation and the transformation of strategic sectors by 2030.

French policy towards these sectors combines general cultural objectives with specialised regulatory and financial instruments. Sector-specific public bodies, including the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), the Centre national du livre (CNL) and the Centre national de la musique (CNM), support creation, production and circulation through mechanisms adapted to their respective fields. These range from grants and selective support schemes to sector-specific funding and redistribution mechanisms. Other instruments include reduced VAT rates for certain cultural goods and services, tax credits, the fixed book price system and credit guarantees for cultural enterprises.

Founded in 2019, the Club we are_ gathers 1,450 members and 1,000 companies from the creative, cultural and digital industries. The club comprises two venues in Paris and Lille, conceived as places to bring together executives, entrepreneurs, investors, artists and creators and support the dynamism of the cultural and creative ecosystems and foster synergies at national and international level. The club also initiated the association We Are Creative which brings together major stakeholders, notably professional unions and collective management organisations from public and private sectors like  ADAGP, Unifrance, UPFI, SNJV, SNE, SNEP, ADAMI, SACEM, Ekhoscènes (see chapter 7.2.1.). The association coordinated the Panorama des industries culturelles et créatives 2025, a key study to comprehend tthe socio-economic actual impacts of these industries, which had their global added value increased by 21% from 2019 to 2024.

Digital transformation has become a major structural challenge across the cultural industries. Streaming services, online platforms and algorithmic recommendation systems have reshaped production, distribution and access, particularly in audiovisual media and music. These developments have intensified policy debates concerning the remuneration of creators, market concentration, the visibility of French and European works and the capacity of national support systems to adapt to globalised digital intermediaries.

Overall, the French approach to cultural and creative industries seeks to reconcile market dynamics with sustained public intervention. A major policy challenge is to adapt this long-standing model to increasingly globalised and platform-based value chains without weakening its commitment to cultural diversity and artistic creation.

Last update: October, 2026

Books and the press occupy an important position within the French cultural industries, but they are shaped by distinct economic models and policy instruments. The book sector combines commercial publishing and retail activity with strong regulatory measures intended to preserve diversity in production and distribution, while press policy places particular emphasis on pluralism, access to information and the sustainability of news media.

The French book sector includes large publishing groups alongside independent publishers, distributors and an extensive network of bookshops. Market concentration remains an important structural issue, particularly in publishing and distribution, while independent actors continue to play a significant role in maintaining editorial diversity and local access to books.

A defining feature of the regulatory framework is the 1981 fixed book price law (loi Lang), extended to digital books in 2011. Under this system, the publisher or importer determines the retail price of a book, with only limited discounts permitted in most circumstances. The measure was designed to restrict price-based competition between retailers and to preserve a diverse bookselling network. It remains one of the most distinctive instruments of French cultural regulation.

Public support is structured in particular through the Centre national du livre (CNL), which supports different parts of the book ecosystem, including authors, translators, publishers, bookshops and literary events. Its interventions seek to support creation and translation, editorial diversity, access to books and the circulation of French-language literature in France and internationally. These mechanisms operate alongside other forms of public intervention. Books benefit from a reduced VAT rate of 5.5%, applicable to qualifying works in both physical and digital formats and extended to audiobooks under the relevant fiscal criteria (French Tax Administration, BOFiP, updated 21 August 2024). Territorial authorities also implement their own book policies. For example, the Île-de-France Region supports independent bookshops with projects involving stock development, creation, takeover, relocation or renovation, and runs a regional writers-in-residence programme combining support for authors with literary activities in host organisations (Île-de-France Region).

Digital transformation has diversified book formats and distribution channels without displacing print as the dominant format in France. The growth of online retail has nevertheless intensified competition between physical bookshops and major e-commerce platforms, leading to further regulatory intervention. Since October 2023, online orders containing new books worth less than €35 have been subject to a minimum delivery charge of €3; for orders of €35 or more, delivery charges must remain above zero (Order of 4 April 2023, Arrêté du 4 avril 2023 relatif au montant minimal de tarification du service de livraison du livre). This measure illustrates the continuing adaptation of the French regulatory model to digital distribution and its objective of preserving a geographically diverse bookselling network.

The press sector faces a different set of structural pressures. It encompasses national and regional newspapers, magazines, specialist publications and digital news media, with business models increasingly combining print and digital subscriptions, advertising and other forms of revenue. The long-term decline of print circulation and the migration of advertising expenditure towards global digital platforms have placed sustained pressure on traditional press models.

Public support for the press is a long-standing feature of French media policy and is primarily intended to preserve pluralism and access to political and general information. The system combines direct aid schemes with fiscal and distribution-related support. In 2024, the Ministry of Culture allocated EUR 23.4 million in pluralism aid to 376 press titles (Ministry of Culture, Public support for the press, 2025). Other mechanisms include support for press distribution and the Strategic Fund for Press Development (Fonds stratégique pour le développement de la presse, FSDP), which supports investment and innovation projects, including digital transformation.

Digitalisation has also transformed the relationship between press publishers and online platforms. France was the first EU Member State to transpose the neighbouring right for press publishers established by Directive (EU) 2019/790, through Law No. 2019-775 of 24 July 2019 on the creation of a neighbouring right for press agencies and publishers. The new framework requires digital platforms to negotiate remuneration for the online reuse of protected press content, but its implementation has generated significant disputes. A conflict with Google is particularly illustrative: following several years of proceedings over negotiation conditions, the French Competition Authority fined the company EUR 250 million in March 2024 for failing to comply with commitments made binding in 2022 concerning the application of neighbouring rights. The case illustrates the difficulties involved in translating a formal intellectual property right into effective bargaining power and remuneration for press publishers in a platform-dominated digital environment.

Overall, the book and press sectors illustrate contrasting forms of cultural regulation, but recent developments have increasingly brought them together around a common concern: the concentration of ownership and its potential implications for editorial independence and pluralism. This debate intensified following Vivendi’s acquisition of Lagardère in 2023 (respectively a major French media and entertainment company and a diversified business active notably in publishing, media and travel retail). At the time of the transaction, Vivendi was controlled by Bolloré, according to the European Commission’s assessment of the merger. The acquisition brought Hachette Livre, one of France’s largest publishing groups, into a corporate group with major interests across the media and cultural industries. The European Commission authorised the acquisition subject to conditions, including the divestment of the publishing company Editis and the magazine Gala, in response to competition concerns in publishing and press markets.

The issue acquired renewed prominence in April 2026 following a major crisis at Grasset, a prestigious publishing house within Hachette Livre. After the removal of its long-standing chief executive, Olivier Nora, more than 130 authors and public intellectuals announced that they would leave the publisher, publicly framing the dispute as a threat to editorial independence and freedom of creation. The controversy transformed longstanding concerns about media and publishing concentration into a broader debate over whether existing competition rules and cultural policy instruments are sufficient to protect editorial autonomy when ownership extends across publishing, news media and other cultural industries.

These developments highlight an emerging challenge for French cultural policy: safeguarding diversity may increasingly require attention not only to market competition and sector-specific support, but also to the relationship between ownership structures, editorial independence and freedom of creation.

Last update: October, 2026

The audiovisual and interactive media sector occupies a strategic position within the French cultural industries. It encompasses cinema, television, radio, on-demand audiovisual services, animation and video games, bringing together public service media, private broadcasters, independent producers, digital platforms and interactive media companies. Public intervention remains particularly significant, combining sector-specific financing mechanisms, content regulation and support for production.

The French audiovisual landscape is structured around public service media, private broadcasters and an increasingly important range of on-demand services. France Télévisions and Radio France remain central public operators, alongside Arte France, while commercial broadcasters and global streaming services occupy a major position in the distribution and financing of audiovisual content. The growth of on-demand services has significantly reshaped patterns of access to audiovisual content and increased the role of global platforms within the French media landscape.

Cinema remains one of the most distinctive areas of French cultural policy. In 2024, French cinemas recorded 181.5 million admissions, while French films accounted for 44.8% of admissions, according to the National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, CNC). In the same year, 309 films were approved by the CNC, the highest level recorded in its annual production statistics (CNC, 2025). These indicators reflect both the scale of cinema attendance and the high level of production activity within the French system.

Cinema also occupies a distinctive place in French cultural life and international cultural visibility. France hosts a broad range of film festivals, from internationally prominent events such as the Cannes Film Festival to specialised festivals devoted to animation, documentary film, short films and particular genres or audiences. These events contribute to public access, professional circulation and the international visibility of films. French cinema also benefits from structured international promotion through Unifrance, the organisation responsible for promoting French films and audiovisual works abroad. According to Unifrance’s preliminary estimates, French films generated 42.5 million admissions and EUR 272 million in box-office receipts in foreign cinemas in 2025 (Unifrance, 2026). This combination of domestic exhibition, festival circulation and structured international promotion helps explain the particularly prominent position of cinema within French cultural policy and its broader international cultural influence.

A central feature of the French system is the redistributive financing model administered by the CNC. Its resources are notably derived from sector-specific taxes linked to cinema admissions, television services and the distribution of audiovisual content, including on-demand services. These revenues are redistributed through automatic and selective support schemes for film and audiovisual creation, production, distribution and cinema exhibition. Automatic support is generally linked to the previous economic performance of eligible works or companies and is reinvested in new projects, while selective schemes allocate funding according to cultural, artistic or sector-specific criteria.

One of the best-known selective mechanisms is the avance sur recettes (advance on box-office receipts), created in 1959. It provides funding to feature-film projects selected primarily on artistic grounds, generally before production, with the aim of supporting ambitious or distinctive works that may face difficulties securing sufficient market financing. Although formally conceived as an advance repayable from future receipts, it functions as a major instrument of cultural policy by enabling projects to be assessed on their artistic qualities rather than solely on their expected commercial performance. The mechanism illustrates a broader principle of the French model: revenues generated by the circulation and consumption of audiovisual works contribute to financing future creation.

The expansion of global streaming platforms requires a significant adaptation of this regulatory framework. Under the 2021 rules governing on-demand audiovisual media services (services de médias audiovisuels à la demande, SMAD), services targeting the French market can be required to contribute to the financing of European works and works of French original expression (œuvres d’expression originale française, EOF). According to the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, Arcom), for subscription video-on-demand services falling within the scope of the rules, the contribution is generally set at a minimum of 20% of net annual turnover generated in France, rising to 25% where at least one film is made available less than twelve months after its theatrical release in France. At least 85% of the relevant expenditure must be devoted to EOF works (Arcom, Conventionner ou déclarer un SMAD). The framework has therefore integrated major international streaming services into the financing of French and European audiovisual and cinematographic production, extending a central principle of the French model beyond domestic broadcasters.

Beyond production financing, French regulation also addresses the visibility of French and European works within on-demand services. Under Decree No. 2021-793 of 22 June 2021 on on-demand audiovisual media services, the catalogues of services falling within its scope must include at least 60% European works and 40% works of French original expression (œuvres d’expression originale française, EOF). The framework also requires services to give effective prominence to European and EOF works, rather than merely making them available in the catalogue. These provisions illustrate how French audiovisual policy has extended beyond financing production to address the conditions under which works are exposed and promoted within digital distribution environments.

Video games constitute a distinct and increasingly significant component of the French interactive media sector. The French market generated EUR 5.856 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the 2025 French Video Game Market Report published by the French trade association representing video game publishers (Syndicat des éditeurs de logiciels de loisirs, SELL, 2026). This figure refers to the value of the French consumer market rather than to the turnover of French production companies. On the production side, the Annual Survey of Video Games in France – 2024 Edition identified 980 companies, including 575 game development studios (French Games Map, 2024). These figures illustrate a broad ecosystem combining major internationally active companies such as Ubisoft, established studios such as Quantic Dream, and a diverse independent development scene, alongside specialised training institutions.

Public policy has progressively recognised video games as both a field of cultural creation and an economic industry. The Video Game Tax Credit (Crédit d’impôt jeu vidéo, CIJV) is a fiscal incentive designed to support the development of eligible games by reducing part of the production costs borne by companies established in France. Eligibility is subject to cultural and creative criteria, linking economic support to the contribution of projects to European cultural creation. Alongside this mechanism, the Video Game Support Fund (Fonds d’aide au jeu vidéo, FAJV), administered by the CNC, provides selective funding for projects at different stages of development, including writing, pre-production and production. This combination of fiscal and selective support reflects the hybrid position of video games within French cultural policy, at the intersection of artistic creation, technological innovation and international market competition.

Overall, audiovisual and interactive media illustrate how French cultural policy has sought to adapt established support and regulatory principles to new forms of production and distribution. In the audiovisual sector, this has involved extending financing and visibility obligations to global on-demand services, while in video games public intervention combines selective cultural support with instruments designed to sustain production in a highly internationalised industry. The resulting framework reflects a broader evolution of the French model: rather than abandoning sector-specific intervention in response to digital transformation, it has progressively extended and adapted it to new actors, formats and modes of access.

Last update: October, 2026

The music sector in France is a major component of the cultural and creative industries, encompassing recorded music, live performance, festivals, music publishing, collective rights management and digital distribution. It is characterised by a mixed model in which market dynamics coexist with substantial public intervention, regulatory mechanisms and a dense network of publicly supported institutions and venues.

Public intervention in the music sector involves the Ministry of Culture, its decentralised services, territorial authorities and a range of specialised institutions and publicly supported networks. A major institutional development was the establishment of the Centre national de la musique (CNM) in 2020 as a public institution dedicated to the music and variety sector. Its statutory missions include supporting creation, production, distribution, live performance, export and professional development, as well as observation of the sector. The CNM also brought together missions previously carried out by several specialised bodies, contributing to greater coordination of public support within its field of competence.

Alongside the CNM, French music policy relies on a dense network of publicly supported and State-labelled institutions. According to the Ministry of Culture’s Chiffres clés 2025, this network includes 15 labelled permanent orchestras, 11 labelled opera houses — six regional national operas (opéras nationaux en région) and five lyric theatres of national interest (théâtres lyriques d’intérêt national) — as well as eight national centres for musical creation (centres nationaux de création musicale). In the field of contemporary music, 100 venues currently hold the contemporary music venues (scènes de musiques actuelles, SMAC) label across metropolitan and overseas France. Together, they present more than 6,000 events per season and provide performance opportunities for over 12,000 artists or groups, with particular attention to emerging artists (Ministry of Culture, Scènes de musiques actuelles – SMAC, 2025). Their remit covers creation, production and dissemination, support for professional and amateur musical practices, and cultural outreach. This labelled infrastructure illustrates the territorial dimension of French music policy and the coexistence of support for permanent institutions, musical creation and contemporary music.

The French recorded music market has returned to growth after the severe contraction experienced during the 2000s and early 2010s, with streaming now constituting its main source of revenue. According to the National Union of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP), 2024 Recorded Music Market Report: A Turning Point for the Music Industry (2025), streaming revenues reached EUR 664 million in 2024, an increase of 9.5% compared with 2023.The same source reports 138 billion streams and 27 million streaming users, with subscription-based listening accounting for 80% of streams. These figures confirm the central role of streaming in the recovery and transformation of the French recorded music market.

This transformation has also intensified debates concerning the distribution of value between artists, authors, producers and platforms, as well as algorithmic visibility, fraud and artificial streaming. A significant recent policy development was the introduction, under the 2024 Finance Act, of a tax on paid and free online services providing access to recorded music. Effective from 1 January 2024, the revenue generated by this tax is allocated to the CNM, thereby extending the sector’s financing mechanisms to online music distribution services (CNM, Streaming Tax, 2024; French Republic, Finance Act for 2024, 2023). Collective management organisations also remain central to the French music ecosystem. The Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (SACEM) collects and distributes copyright revenues on behalf of authors, composers and publishers, and has expanded its activities in response to the growth of digital and cross-border uses (SACEM, Annual Report 2024, 2025).

Live music is another major component of the French music sector. According to the Centre national de la musique (CNM), Live Performance in 2024 (2025), ticketing revenues for music and variety performances in venues outside the festival context reached nearly EUR 1.3 billion excluding tax in 2024, an increase of 16% compared with 2023. Festivals also form a substantial part of the French cultural landscape, but their economic sustainability has become a growing concern. According to the CNM’s Economic Situation of Contemporary Music and Variety Festivals Supported by the CNM(2025), based on a panel of 68 festivals supported by the CNM, two-thirds ended their 2024 edition with a deficit. Between 2023 and 2024, their total costs increased by 6%, compared with a 4% rise in revenues, with artistic costs increasing by 9% and technical costs by 6%. These findings point to a widening imbalance between expenditure and revenue growth, despite continued increases in ticketing income.

French music policy combines direct public support, tax incentives and regulatory instruments. The CNM operates financial support programmes across recorded music, music publishing, live performance, independent record retail and international development. Its 2025 budget amounted to EUR 137.6 million and accompanied a major reform of its support system, including selective and automatic mechanisms (CNM, 2025 Intervention Framework and Budget, 2024). Tax incentives complement these support mechanisms. France has three sector-specific music tax credits covering live music performance, phonographic production and music publishing (Ministry of Culture, The Financing Strategy for the Music Sector in France, 2023).

Radio broadcasting quotas constitute a further regulatory mechanism. Under the rules monitored by the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom), the general regime requires private radio stations to devote at least 40% of their popular music programming during significant listening hours to French-language songs, at least half of which must come from new talent or new productions. Alternative regimes apply to specific station formats, including stations specialising in young talent, musical heritage and musical discovery (Arcom, Song Quotas on the Radio, 2026). These obligations are intended to promote French-language repertoire and the exposure of new talent and productions.

International circulation is an important dimension of the French music sector. The CNM supports the international development of music professionals and projects, while the Institut français contributes to the international mobility and visibility of artists through the French cultural network abroad. Recent export data point to the scale of this circulation. According to the CNM’s 2025 Export Certifications: French Productions Excel Internationally (2026), 758 singles and 57 albums produced in France, involving 440 artists, received Gold, Platinum or Diamond export certifications in 2025. The certified titles generated 50 billion stream-equivalents internationally, including more than 5 billion for new releases. These results underline the international reach of music produced in France and the growing importance of digital consumption in its circulation abroad.

Overall, the French music sector combines extensive public support and regulation with a dynamic commercial market and a dense territorial network of institutions, venues and festivals. Recent growth in recorded music and live performance, together with strong export certification results, points to continued dynamism across several segments of the sector. At the same time, the economic fragility of many festivals, the distribution of value in streaming markets, the visibility of diverse repertoires on digital platforms and the implications of artificial intelligence for creation and copyright remain major policy challenges.

Last update: October, 2026

Design occupies a transversal position within the French cultural and creative landscape, at the intersection of artistic creation, industry, digital technologies and services. Its boundaries are difficult to define statistically, since designers may work as independent professionals, within specialised agencies or as employees embedded in sectors such as manufacturing, fashion, digital services and communication. Official data therefore vary according to whether they measure design professions, specialised design businesses or broader design-related activities.

According to the Ministry of Culture’s Design thematic overview (2026), more than 60,000 designers work in France, while 231 institutions provide design education, approximately one-third of them public and two-thirds private. Complementary data on self-employment confirm the importance of independent work in this field: in 2022, specialised design activities accounted for 51% of the 102,400 non-salaried workers recorded in the arts and visual arts sector, meaning approximately 52,000 non-salaried workers in specialised design activities (INSEE / DEPS, The Number of Non-Salaried Workers in the Cultural Sectors Has Almost Tripled in 15 Years, 2025). These figures underline both the scale of design activity in France and the difficulty of defining it as a single economic sector, since design is measured differently depending on whether the focus is on professions, training institutions or specialised design activities.

Public intervention in design is distributed across cultural, educational, economic and innovation policies rather than organised around a single sectoral operator. According to the Ministry of Culture’s Design thematic overview (2026), State support covers creation, education, research and innovation, as well as initiatives promoting the national and international visibility of French design. More specifically, the Ministry supports designers through public commissions and dedicated funding for creation, research and innovation, while national institutions and higher education establishments contribute to experimentation, professional development and dissemination (Ministry of Culture, Supporting French Designers, 2026). Design projects may also access broader innovation and digital-transition instruments available to cultural and creative industries, but these transversal schemes are not specific to the design sector.

Education constitutes an important component of the French design ecosystem. Within the higher education system overseen by the Ministry of Culture, 44 higher schools of art and design enrol approximately 11,400 students; the network comprises 10 national public institutions and 34 territorial or associative schools (Ministry of Culture, Careers and Training in Culture Higher Education, 2025). These institutions award nationally recognised qualifications, notably the Diplôme national d’art (DNA), which confers a bachelor’s degree, and the Diplôme national supérieur d’expression plastique (DNSEP), which confers a master’s degree. Alongside this public higher education network, applied arts programmes and private institutions contribute to a broader training landscape encompassing product, graphic, spatial and digital design.

Design is also represented within major French museum and cultural collections, although it is rarely confined to institutions devoted exclusively to the field. The Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris holds more than 1.4 million works and artefacts across decorative and applied arts, including design, furniture, fashion, textiles, advertising and graphic design (Museum of Decorative Arts, Collections, 2026). Within the National Museum of Modern Art, the design collection comprises around 10,000 works by nearly 900 designers, spanning the early twentieth century to the present (Centre Pompidou, Design and Industrial Prospective, 2026). Beyond Paris, the Cité du design in Saint-Étienne combines exhibitions, research, higher education and public engagement, illustrating the territorial development of institutions specifically structured around design. Together, these institutions contribute to the preservation, study and public visibility of design as both cultural heritage and contemporary creation.

Overall, design in France is characterised less by a unified sectoral structure than by its presence across multiple economic and cultural fields. Its transversal position is reflected in a substantial professional and educational ecosystem, as well as in major public collections and institutions contributing to the preservation and visibility of design. At the same time, the dispersion of design activities across different industries, professional settings and employment statuses continues to complicate statistical measurement and the coordination of public intervention.

Last update: October, 2026

Culture is a central component of France’s tourism attractiveness: one tourist in two makes a cultural visit during their stay in the country. This relationship is supported by a dense network of museums, monuments, historic sites, festivals and cultural events, alongside gastronomy and other forms of living heritage. In 2023, France recorded nearly 100 million international arrivals, underlining the scale of the tourism context within which cultural participation takes place (DEPS, Tourism and Culture, in Key Figures: Cultural Statistics – 2024, 2025). Heritage sites, cultural institutions and events therefore play an important role not only in cultural participation but also in France’s attractiveness as a destination.

Public policy in this field necessarily involves multiple levels of government and institutions. The Ministry of Culture contributes through heritage conservation, museums, monuments and cultural programming, while tourism policy involves central government departments, territorial authorities and Atout France, the national tourism development agency responsible for supporting the development and international promotion of France as a destination. This dispersed governance reflects the transversal nature of cultural tourism, which connects cultural preservation and participation with destination management, economic development and territorial attractiveness. It also means that cultural tourism is addressed primarily through coordination between cultural, tourism and territorial policies rather than through a single dedicated national policy framework.

The scale of France’s tourism economy provides an important context for cultural tourism. In 2025, France welcomed 102 million international visitors and generated a record EUR 77.5 billion in international tourism receipts, an increase of 9% compared with 2024. Domestic tourism consumption reached an estimated EUR 222 billion in the same year (Directorate General for Enterprise, 2025 Tourism Review: France Confirms Its Position as the World’s Leading Tourism Destination, 2026; Atout France, The Economic Weight of Tourism in France, 2025). While these figures concern tourism as a whole rather than cultural tourism specifically, they indicate the scale of the visitor economy within which cultural sites, institutions and events operate.

Heritage institutions constitute a major component of France’s cultural tourism ecosystem. In 2024, the country had more than 1,200 officially recognised Musées de France, 110 sites managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux, 265 Maisons des Illustres and more than 46,000 protected historic monuments. National museums and exhibition venues under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture recorded 32.5 million admissions in the same year (Ministry of Culture, Heritage: Consolidated Attendance in 2024, 2025). Heritage participation is also widespread among the resident population: in 2024, 64% of people aged 15 and over reported visiting a monument, while 39% visited a museum or exhibition (DEPS, Cultural Outings of the French Population in 2024: Results of the Crédoc Barometer, 2025). These figures illustrate that France’s cultural tourism model rests not only on a small number of internationally renowned sites, but also on an exceptionally extensive heritage infrastructure distributed across the country. The high level of heritage participation among residents further suggests that this infrastructure serves a substantial domestic public alongside international visitors, reducing the relevance of a strict distinction between tourism policy and cultural participation policy. This dual function is particularly important for territorial development: museums, monuments and historic sites can contribute simultaneously to local cultural access, destination attractiveness and the circulation of visitors beyond the most internationally prominent sites.

International recognition further reinforces the visibility of French heritage. Following the inscription of the Megaliths of Carnac and the shores of Morbihan in 2025, France has 54 properties on the UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, France – Properties Inscribed on the World Heritage List, 2025). These properties include monuments, historic urban areas, cultural landscapes and natural sites distributed across the country. UNESCO inscription contributes to the international recognition of these sites and can support the visibility of regional destinations, although its effects on visitor flows depend on local accessibility, promotion strategies and site-management capacity.

Cultural tourism is not limited to museums and monuments. Festivals and major events extend cultural activity beyond permanent institutions and can contribute to destination attractiveness through seasonal programming and events rooted in specific territories. France has a particularly dense festival landscape: the Department of Studies, Foresight and Statistics (DEPS) of the Ministry of Culture identified nearly 7,300 festivals that had held an edition in 2019, while the 2024 Festival Barometer subsequently gathered responses from nearly 2,000 festivals across artistic disciplines and territories (DEPS, National Mapping of Festivals, 2023; DEPS, 2024 Festival Barometer, 2025). This ecosystem is geographically widespread but unevenly distributed across French regions: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Occitanie each accounted for more than 900 festivals in the national mapping, while Nouvelle-Aquitaine counted around 830. Major events can also become significant components of urban attractiveness. In Lyon, the 2024 Fête des Lumières attracted more than 2 million visitors over four evenings; individual installations also drew very large audiences, including nearly 960,000 spectators for Le Retour du Petit Géant at Place des Terreaux and around 127,000 visitors for Les Anooki at the Parc de la Tête d’Or (City of Lyon, It’s Time for the Review…, 2024). The event illustrates how temporary cultural programming in public space can operate at the scale of a major destination event, extending cultural tourism beyond permanent heritage institutions and museums. Its scale should not, however, be treated as representative of the wider festival ecosystem, whose tourism effects vary considerably according to audience origin, event duration and local reception capacity.

Gastronomy and wine tourism further broaden the scope of cultural tourism beyond museums, monuments and events. The Gastronomic Meal of the French has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2010, recognising a social practice centred on celebration, conviviality and the transmission of shared culinary traditions (UNESCO, Gastronomic Meal of the French, 2010). Wine tourism has developed into a substantial segment of the visitor economy: according to Atout France, French wine regions received 12 million wine tourists in 2023, including 5.4 million international visitors, while more than 10,000 wine cellars were open to visitors. Total expenditure associated with wine tourism was estimated at EUR 5.4 billion, comprising EUR 1.8 billion in direct wine-tourism expenditure and EUR 3.6 billion in complementary expenditure on services including accommodation, mobility and cultural activities (Atout France, Wine Tourism in France, 2025). This expenditure structure illustrates how wine tourism connects regionally rooted cultural and agricultural heritage with a wider territorial economy extending beyond wine production itself. The national Vignobles & Découvertes label further structures this offer by bringing together accommodation, restaurants, cellar visits, cultural sites, natural heritage, local know-how and events within recognised wine destinations (Atout France, Vignobles & Découvertes Label, 2026).

France’s cultural tourism model draws on the combination of a dense heritage and museum infrastructure, high levels of domestic cultural participation and substantial international visitor flows. Its scope extends beyond monuments and museums to festivals, major public events, gastronomy and wine tourism, linking cultural resources to territorial attractiveness in diverse ways. This breadth is also a source of complexity: cultural tourism is not defined as a single economic sector and overlaps with heritage policy, tourism, hospitality, events and local development, complicating both statistical measurement and policy coordination. Key challenges therefore concern the preservation of highly visited sites, the territorial distribution of visitor flows and the capacity to reconcile tourism attractiveness with long-term conservation and access to cultural resources.