The statistics for last year were released yesterday by the “Direction Generale de la Compétitivité de l'industrie et des services”, showing that France was the only country in the world to receive more than 80 million tourists last year.

It was the last of the countries likely to be in the top 10 to submit official figures. The news was greeted with glee by some French publications. “Cocorico!” exclaimed a report in Le Figaro at news of a total 84.7 million overseas visitors to the country in 2013.

This represents a two per cent increase on the previous year, with the number of overnight stays rising even more rapidly, by more than four per cent.

There were only marginal changes to this year’s top 10 most visited, with Spain (60.7 million) regaining the third place spot it lost to China (55.7million) in 2012. The UK was in eighth place, with a total of 31.2 million visitors.