Welcome to Paris

Just before 10 a.m. last Tuesday, staffers took up position at a back-door entrance to the Galeries Lafayette department store in central Paris. In their hands: store maps translated into Mandarin. On the red walls behind them: images of the Buddha, and of French model Laetitia Casta wearing a side-buttoned red silk Chinese outfit and a welcoming smile.

Then came the deluge. A busload of Chinese tourists poured in and started loading up on perfume, cosmetics and Fauchon chocolates. "Shopping is an important part of the trip," said Robert Huang, director of the Shanghai Business Travel Co., as he corralled his charges. "Afterward we are going to the Louvre for an hour, then a break for lunch, then to Notre Dame." Before he could finish, a tourist added: "And Place Vendτme," home to Cartier and Boucheron.

The Chinese middle class, 50 million strong and growing, is on the move. "Paris is their first European destination," says Paul Roll, managing director of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau. Last year, the French capital hosted 200,000 visitors from mainland China; Roll predicts 40% more this year. In September, Beijing added 29 European countries, including France, to the list of destinations Chinese tourists can visit without business visas, auguring an even bigger influx next year. By 2020, Roll figures, Paris could get 2 million Chinese visitors per year - about the number of Americans it receives today.

Le tout Paris is gearing up. The Seine's bateaux-mouches offer audio guides in Mandarin; in 27 of its Paris hotels, the Accor hotel group has Chinese-speaking receptionists, Chinese cable T.V. and newspapers, and white-rice porridge for breakfast. "Some of our Chinese guests want croissants instead, and they often try foie gras and escargots while they're here," says Accor's Pauline Bucaille. Wu Yuebin, a university professor from the northern city of Harbin, is part of a growing number of Chinese coming on their own. "It is harder in some ways because you have to find your own hotel and find your own way," she says. "But I like the freedom." For her, that matters more than the shopping.