Stardate 20030617.0128

(On Screen): Well, well; the French are working on their attitudes.

Recent posters on display in Paris depict Mona Lisa, one of the Louvre's most famous possessions, with a small alteration: her mysterious smile is underlined by another, much like the "smiley face" ubiquitous in America.

Tourism officials in Paris are hopeful that 6,000 such renderings promoting the "Bonjour Campaign" will encourage hotel clerks, waiters, bus drivers and metro employees to be nicer and more helpful to tourists.

Its key missive: to smile more.

The French are convinced that the U.S. perception that they — particularly Parisians — are unfriendly to Americans has added to the tourism decline caused by France's position on the war with Iraq.

Tourism decline? What tourism decline? (Did someone mention a tourism decline?)

On a beautiful June day in Paris, as a cloudless blue sky looks down on familiar tourist attractions, it is clear something is different. At the Eiffel Tower, along the Champs Elysees and at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, there are Japanese, German and British tourists — but few Americans.

"I think they're staying at home," a young Frenchman, Rene Eskengren, said. "Don't you think so?"

It would appear so: so far this year there are 25 percent fewer Americans visiting France than a year ago. And a recent study for a large travel agency found that France had slipped from the No. 2 destination for American travelers to No. 17. The reason cited is mainly France's position on Iraq.

It has been a rude awakening for French officials.

The Americans are actually resentful. How could that happen? Don't the Americans understand their place in the world? It's their job to be despised by the French. It's their rightful place in the grand scheme of things.

"I think they're shocked," said Adam Gopnik, who reported for six years from Paris for The New Yorker magazine. Gopnik said the French believe their position on Iraq was one of principle, and was not driven by anti-Americanism or resentment of the United States.

The French are not only shocked, but hurt, he told ABCNEWS. "There's also this feeling of rejection, of being misunderstood and being maligned unfairly.

"If you're gonna hate France, hate Canada because Canada and France shared exactly the same policy on this particular issue."

The Canadians didn't do as much as the French. For instance, the Canadians didn't promise to veto any UNSC resolution which might lead to war in Iraq.

And in any case, Chrétien is on our shitlist, too. The difference is that it's not at all clear that he had anything like as much support in all of Canada for his anti-Americanism as Chirac had in France. I don't recall seeing any polls from Canada showing 85% supporting that policy.

In the mean time, don't peddle that claim about "principled positions" and there being no anti-Americanism involved. We cowboys have got plenty of that stuff piled up at the rear of our feedlots and cattle ranches; we don't need any more shipped to us from across the Atlantic.

The French have mounted a major campaign to repair the damage done by the war in Iraq. Its tourist board officials just concluded a monthlong barnstorming tour of 15 U.S. cities. They're focusing strongly on that smile.

Americans have traditionally been the largest group of foreigners to visit France each year. Only Japanese visitors spend more money per person there. Since 2000, the number of U.S. visitors has been declining steadily: from 3.5 million in 2000, to 3 million Americans in 2001 and down to 2.7 million last year.

At a sidewalk café, Inna Wahl, a young, blonde woman in dark glasses, acknowledged that even Parisians know there's something to this smile business. "People say that maybe because of the French attitude that the Americans are not really keen about going to Paris, which I can understand."

Thierry Baudier, head of the French tourist board, Maiseon de la France , referred to a study three years ago which showed that in the rest of the world, the French were considered arrogant. The campaign, he said, will "show the rest of the world and the tourist that the French people are friendly, warm and that we are engaged to welcome them."

Arrogant? Mon Dieu! Not arrogant, surely, but realistic. Since the French actually are superior to everyone else, why should they pretend otherwise?

At Citadine's Hotel, a familiar place on the American tourist path in Paris, manager Francois Montbellet has embraced the "Bonjour Campaign" and signed a contract promising to be more welcoming to tourists. A clerk at the reception desk welcomes a pair of arriving American backpackers with a clearly forced smile, but a smile nevertheless.

This just in: hospitals in Paris report an epidemic of cracked faces among workers in the tourism industry.

But will everyone in Paris start smiling more and replace the traditional Gallic shrug with a welcoming embrace and even a few words in English?

"I've never heard about this 'Bonjour' program," said Frenchman Eskengren. He doubts it will have much impact. "French people are very chauvinist, very proud. And when you co