Too much heat for French town

A French tourist town has reportedly been hit by a decline in bookings – because the weather was too hot last year.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the town of Carpentras, near Avignon, has suffered because it was chosen as a representative town by weather forecasters last year.

As much of Europe sweltered last summer, the town had some 52 days when temperatures rose above 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Paul Fructus, the head of the town’s tourist board, is quoted as saying: “Every night on television they would say ‘and in Carpentras, it’s 104 degrees’. It’s still affecting people’s decisions today. It wasn’t good publicity.”

The newspaper reports that bookings in the town are down 20 per cent, having already fallen 23 per cent the previous year; it states that this year, the “vogue” among French tourists is to go to places such as Britanny, Normandy and the southern Atlantic coast, where the temperatures are less likely to be so extreme.

Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad