Chinese tourists in the French city of Nice.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Zhou hired an agency to help him get their visas in under two weeks.

He and his wife visited Paris, Cannes, Lyon and Nice.

And they shopped along the way. Zhou bought a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace as a wedding gift for his bride for 16,000 yuan－half what it would cost in China.

Utour has from the start of the year chartered weekly flights from Tianjin, Xi'an and Hangzhou to Europe every week, and France has been included in most itineraries.

The flights are usually full and carry about 380 people each, Li says.

About 2 million Chinese toured France last year. The figure was 1.4 million in 2013, the French tourism office in Beijing says.

Chinese travel to the Grand Paris area surged by 48.9 percent year-on-year last year, the France-based BFMTV reports.

The area covers Versailles, Fontainebleau, Charles de Gaulle Airport and Disneyland. It absorbs about a third of inbound visitors.

France began to streamline visas for Chinese last January. It ensures applicants get their visas or are informed they've been denied within 48 hours, says Qi Yong, a media officer with the French tourism development authority's Beijing office.

Chinese can also apply at visa centers of their choice, whereas migrants previously had to return to their places of origin to apply, Qi says.

The French tourism office has also developed themed routes and sales promotions since 2011.

The first themed tours promoted cultural-heritage tours through the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Carcassonne medieval city and Chartres Cathedral.