Paris: The world's television screens might be filled with images of civil strife and burning cars, the US Embassy might have issued a travel advisory for France, but for most tourists and natives of Paris, it was business as usual enjoying an unseasonably mild Autumn afternoon.
France faces a spreading revolt by poor young men in its grimy suburbs and sees cars, shops and schools firebombed nightly.
Thousands of cars have been burnt in nearly 12 days of sporadic violence, provoking a political emergency and talk of curfews for the first time since the 1950s.
But, in the heart of the Capital, tourists said that they felt safe and had no intention of cutting short their stays.
The list of foreign governments urging tourists being advised to exercise caution in France is growing with Australia, Austria, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Russia and Hungary issuing warnings to avoid riot-hit areas, especially at night.
The issue is crucial for France, because tourism is a vital sector of the economy contributing to nearly 7 per cent of gross domestic product and sustaining two million jobs.
France welcomed 75 million tourists in 2004, a boost for a country struggling with an unemployment rate nearing 10 per cent.
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