Chinese firm sends 6,400 employees on French holiday

A Chinese company has paid for 6,400 of its employees to go on a four-day holiday to France.

The biggest tour group to visit the country was welcomed in the southern resort of Nice on Saturday.

Tiens Group president Li Jinyuan booked up 140 hotels in Paris and more than 4,700 rooms in Cannes and Monaco for their trip.

Their holiday included a private viewing of the Louvre museum and a mass visit to the Moulin Rouge cabaret show.

On Friday, Guinness World Records' inspectors watched the group line up on a beach to break the record for the longest "human-made phrase".

Local media say that the group is expected to spend some €13m ($14.6m; £9.5m) in total.

"We have mobilised public services as well as tourism professionals, hotels, restaurants, shops and designer brands," said Christian Mantel, head of tourism development agency Atout France.

"So far everything has gone smoothly, the feedback has been extremely positive," he said, as quoted by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The tourists have hired 146 buses to drive them around for the duration of their holiday.

The Tiens Group has business interests in a number of fields, including tourism, trade and cosmetics.