Paris trumps Rome in popularity (a tale of two cities…)

3rd February 2017

Who has been to Paris? Who has been to Rome?

At TripFiction we have the absolute pleasure of reading amazing books set all around the world. Books that will bring a location to life, within a good storyline, so that readers can revel in being either actual or armchair travellers.

We often share our top reads with the visitors to our website in the form of giveaways, and of course through Social Media and on our blog. Charting the response rate to these giveaways provided us with an interesting observation. Paris books, when featured in a giveaway, win hands down over every other city and country. Always! They are hugely popular giveaways and are guaranteed to get people to interact. Without fail! The disparity of response rates to different locations has never been clearer than in recent giveaways when we have featured Paris and then Rome.

I have been to both cities and like them equally and differently. I have recently read some amazing books set in Rome, I have shared them in a couple of giveaways. Yet the uptake has been half of what a typical Paris giveaway would be. Even Venice, the city brought to life by author Donna Leon, doesn’t score highly. It’s not about the books, they are all top reads.  So why might this be the case?

Many of our readers are based in Northern Europe and thus live closer to Paris; there is Eurostar, there are trains and ferries. Air France has a busy schedule flying in and out of many cities, in other words, many roads lead to Paris. The Italian national carrier, Alitalia – even with its partners – has a much smaller profile and spread, and isn’t so active in connecting the smaller European hubs into their schedule. Thus, is the location in a book governed by whether a given city “feels” more accessible? More people are perhaps likely to have visited Paris than Rome, therefore feel drawn to the former? Perhaps people have learned French at school but not Italian, and with even a smattering of the local lingo a city feels more approachable, less forbidding. Fundamentally, do people prefer to read about places they know and with which they feel familiar?

And yet… that theory doesn’t really quite stack up because according to CN Traveller, where MasterCard has put together their Global Destinations Cities Index for 2016 (try saying that all in one go!) they have Bangkok in first place, London in second, and Paris making third. But in our experience even Bangkok and London are always trumped by Paris!

In Paris you have to rely on the Metro to get around, in Rome you don’t, you can walk to most places – and it is easier to get an overview of Rome than it is of Paris. Therefore for many visitors this would be a bonus….

Many of the comments on our giveaways indicate that people would “love” to visit Rome (or love to visit Bangkok and London) but have never actually been. Many more have been to Paris. Why is Rome (or for that matter Bangkok or London) therefore such an under-visited city? I can only guess and would love your input. Is it perhaps something about being close to the unruly city of Naples where tourists often fear to tread? Is there a perception of chaos on the roads and in the culture of this grand old city? Overt history for some may seen to be boring, but you cannot but be impressed by the wealth of the Roman legacy in the city.

I am truly perplexed by this phenomenon. Rome is very much the overlooked city and really does not deserve that position, and it certainly doesn’t deserve to be second-fiddle to Paris.

Do let us know what you think! We would love to hear from you.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

(If you haven’t caught some of our top rated books that we suggest for getting to know Rome, they are featured here on this post! Just click on the cover and you will be taken to an array of booksellers where you can order your chosen title).

For our full database of books set in Rome, just click here

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