Feat of tourism planning: Chinese billionaire treats 6,400 employees to holiday in France - all in one go
Trip to France paid for by billionaire almost over for 6,400 workers
There are nice bosses, there are bad bosses, and there are billionaire bosses like Li Jinyuan.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of his conglomerate, China's Tiens Group, Li is treating 6,400 of his employees to a holiday in France - at the same time.
For almost a week, the group has been enjoying the sites and shopping after arriving from China aboard 84 commercial planes.
They are the biggest-ever tour group to visit France, with the company booking 140 hotels in the capital, Paris, as part of the package.
On Saturday they received a VIP welcome in the southern resort city of Nice. In the morning, the luxury department store Galeries Lafayette closed its doors to all other shoppers so that the visitors could browse the aisles, and queue at the till, in relative peace.
Later they filled up the Palais Nikaia to watch the Moulin Rouge cabaret show.
Christian Mantel, head of the French tourism development agency Atout France, said the authorities were pulling out all the stops to accommodate the wishes of the group, who are paying €13 million (HK$113 million) for the visit that ends on Wednesday. "And that's without counting the shopping," added Mantel.
With an average of €1,500 in purchases, Chinese tourists are among the world's biggest holiday spenders.
Li booked 4,760 rooms in 79 four- and five-star hotels in Cannes and Monaco. The tourists also required 146 buses to drive them around.
In Paris, the group had the famous Louvre museum to themselves for a private visit last week before heading south to Nice.
"We have mobilised public services as well as tourism professionals, hotels, restaurants, shops and designer brands," said Mantel. "So far everything has gone smoothly, the feedback has been extremely positive."
The whole adventure began back in December when French tourism authorities heard that Li wanted to celebrate in style the 20th birthday of his company, which operates in tourism, trade and cosmetics.
The 57-year-old is listed on ' 2011 list of the world's billionaires.
Mantel said French authorities worked hard to narrow down his destination shortlist, which had originally also included London and Rome.
Along with the Chinese visitors, there were also Russians and Kenyans in the Tiens tour group.
While in Nice, the group entered the book after forming the longest ever "human phrase". They positioned themselves in groups that read "Tiens' dream is Nice in the Cote d'Azur" in letters visible from the air.
Li even took part in a parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe.
Standing in an American jeep he smiled and saluted towards his workers in the crowd.
While the group has been getting the VIP treatment, the Tiens top dogs have gone one better with the VVIP treatment lavished on them.
Last Wednesday they met French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Fabius, who hopes France will welcome 100 million tourists this year, is well aware that "the reservoir for tourists is mainly in the Far East, particularly in China", a member of his team said.
In 2013, the vast majority of visitors to France were from other European countries, but about 3.1 million came from the US and 1.7 million from China.
