France still the number one tourist destination in world

For a country, which, according to John Lewis's managing director, is finished, France remains the number one tourist destination in the world. In 2013 84.7 million tourists visited the country, well ahead of the USA which clocked in at 69.8 million and streets ahead of Britain, which, according to the World Tourism Organisation, had 31.2 million visitors.

And to make matters worse, France, that "finished" and "sclerotic" nation takes four places in the top 50 world destinations compiled by travelandleisure.com, with Notre Dame cathedral and Sacré Coeur both listed in the top 20. The boss of that most English of institutions, John Lewis, may want to have no truck with the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" but the rest of us can't seem to get enough.