First landing on 34-year-old UFO airport in France

Melbourne, Sep 6 (ANI): After as many as 34 years, a village in France that built the country's only council-funded UFO landing pad has received its first craft.

Ares, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, decided to try and attract Martians to its triangular "UFOport" with its very own fake Martian craft.

The man-made UFO "landed" on the strip and is believed to attract any hesitant extraterrestrials in search of a runway.

The UFO port was opened in 1976 reportedly after a vote by local councilmen.

The councilmen also passed a law exempting aliens from local taxes and authorised them to participate in French boule or mud-skating tournaments.

The 1300-dollar it cost to build the UFO port has proved money extremely well spent.

As many as 20,000 tourists visit Ares every year; some willing to take photographs near the UFO port while others are sci-fi buffs keen to soak up the atmosphere.

"The reactions are sometimes very serious," the Daily Telegraph quoted Jean-Guy Perriere, the town's mayor as saying.

"One American wrote in the 1980s to congratulate the council and express his anger at President Reagan for failing to do the same thing.

"There is an unknown world in this universe whose limits are beyond our comprehension," he added cryptically. (ANI)