Paris is hoping to boost tourist numbers by allowing more shops to open on Sundays, in order to boost tourism revenues that have been affected by the financial downturn.

The city registered a 11.1 percent drop in foreign tourist numbers in the first half of this year compared to the same time last year, according to figures released on Wednesday.

The largest number of foreigners to visit Paris, Americans, has dived over the past year due to the US economic troubles and the high value of the euro, but has picked up again in the second quarter of this year.

Director of the Paris Tourism Office, Paul Roll said the city is “counting on the Americans” in order to maintain tourist revenues and to compensate for the drop in foreign tourists.

He added that America’s economy was hit hard and early by the financial crisis but is expected to emerge quicker, while other economies were later to experience the slump.

The problems with the British economy have also affected cross-Channel travel, as the number of British visitors fell by 23.4 percent in the first half of this year.

Asian tourist numbers also dropped with Japanese visitors falling by 25 percent and Chinese by 17.3 percent.

Overall, the number of travellers to the French capital fell by 7.5 percent to 15.9 million in the first 6 months of this year, the tourism office said, but couldn’t provide figures on overall tourism revenues.

Roll also said that he hopes a new law to allow an increase in the number of shops to open on Sundays could help bring more tourists to France over a full weekend.  Currently shops are closed in France on Sundays.

The tourism authority forecasts a decline of about six percent of tourists visiting Paris in 2009, including French visitors.

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