PARIS, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Nex7, a seven-boy Chinese pop and dance group, which stayed in Paris for the past five days to shoot the pictures of their next album, is distinguished as "Friends of Paris I love you", the tourism promotion bodies of Paris and France announced on Wednesday with a clear aim to attract more Chinese tourists.
"With Nex7, 'New, Energy, X for Endless Possibilities and Trend' should be heard, words that well define these seven talents as well as the energy and the enthusiasm they express," said the Office of Tourism and Congress of Paris & Atout France in a press release. "By choosing Paris to illustrate their first album photo realized overseas, they will bring colors in their way to the [French] capital."
Distinguished as "Friends of Paris I love you [Amis de Paris je t'aime]", the group will help spread Paris' strong desire to receive Chinese visitors as an attractive destination, it added.
The seven boys of the group, Zhu Zhengting, Bi Wenjun, Huang Xinchun, Ding Zeren, Fan Chengcheng, Li Quanzhe, and Justin (Huang Minghao), were in Paris from Aug. 15 to Aug. 20 to shoot the pictures of their next album. The group officially debuted on June 21, 2018 with the song "Wait a Minute".
In order to better inform Chinese visitors, Paris' Office of Tourism has been campaigning on Chinese web since 2017, notably with its official accounts "Paris je t'aime" on three principal Chinese social media: WeChat, Weibo and Douyin (TikTok).
In cooperation with Atout France (Agency of Development of Tourism of France), it also runs a mini-program WeChat Paris Experience.
The Office of Tourism of Paris added that it has multiplied promotion operations at Chinese visitors, notably at "five strong periods" : Spring Festival, summer holiday, golden week (week-long national holiday around Oct. 1, the Chinese National Day, and around May 1, the Labor Day), Singles' Day (shopping holiday popular among young Chinese on Nov. 11, date chosen as number "1" resembling an individual who is alone), and New Year holidays.
In 2018, tourists spent a total of 800,000 nights in hotels in Grand Paris, 3.2 percent up from 2017 and 141 percent up from 2010. China is the fourth largest source country of tourists to the city, after the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
