Europe, Weird, Odd & Just Plain Fun



A billionaire boss has given the treat of a lifetime to 6,400 of his workers –  a £24m French holiday and he has picked up the tab.

China group had an all-expenses paid trip of a life-time to Paris

A Chinese group had an all-expenses paid trip of a life-time to France Image by Will Clayton / CC BY 2.0

The billionaire owner of multinational giant Tiens Group, Li Jinyuan, booked 140 Parisien hotels for his staff, who were given the VIP treatment as they were whisked around the city viewing all the usual tourists sites.

The Eiffel Tower one of the centres visited by the 6,400 Chinese workers on a free trip to France

The Eiffel Tower was one of the centres visited by the 6,400 Chinese workers on a free trip to France Image by Ruben Holthuijsen /  CC BY 2.0

The owner followed on the Paris visit with a high-speed TGV train transfer to the south coast of France, where five star hotels were booked in the Monaco and Cannes regions.

The holiday to celebrate the firm’s 20th year of businesss success, was rounded off when the workers – over half of Mr Li’s totally staff of 12,000 – travelled to the Nice area of Côte d’Azur.

The London Independent reports that the tour group members – believed to be the largest ever to arrive in France at the same time – have spent around €33m of their own money as they enjoyed their free trip.

The Tiens group was founded in 1995 by Mr Li, who is estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.2 billion and is considered to be the 24th richest person in his own country. His conglomerate operates in a range of sectors, including biotechnology, finance, property and logistics.