Tourists use a selfie stick on the Trocadero Square, with the Eiffel Tower in background, in Paris.Credit: AP
The European Union attracted a record number of tourists in 2014, with visits to France leading the bloc, official data shows.
Last year tourists spent 2.7 billion nights in tourist accommodations across the EU's 28 countries, the Eurostat data agency said, up 1.7 per cent from 2013.
France still came top of the heap, with 403 million visitor nights, but that was down 1.7 per cent from last year.
A tourist attaches a love lock on a fence on the access ramp to the Pont des Arts over the River Seine in Paris which is covered with thousands of padlocks.Credit: Reuters
Sun-soaked Spain moved ever closer to dethroning France, up 3.1 per cent to 401 million nights. The figures include both domestic and international visitors.
Baltic nation Latvia saw the biggest increase in tourism, up by 11 per cent, while Greece and Portugal enjoyed solid recoveries after years of weakness due to the eurozone debt crisis.
Spain and Italy attracted the most number of foreign tourists, the data showed.
AFP
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