PARIS - French hotel authorities warned that the industry may face the closure of 4,000 hotels, especially small independent ones, over the next three years, local media reported Thursday.

"French hotel industry has lost 3,400 enterprises in 15 years. 4,000 additional hotels will be closed over the next three years," Mark Watkins, chairman of the Modernization Committee of the French Hotel Industry, was quoted by the daily Le Figaro as saying.

He said he was particularly concerned about difficulties faced by independent hotels, adding that half of these hotels were now in deficit, or at best at equilibrium, and that 56 percent of owners of the independent hotels were seeking to sell.

The committee chairman noted that although France ranked as the world's top tourist destination, the average amount of money spent by tourists in the country was much lower than that in the U.S. or Germany.