With the Paris Olympics set to start on 26 July 2024, Parisians and other tourists are making their feelings about the international event clear, by staying away from the city in their droves.
Olympic infrastructure making city unliveable
Parisians have a reputation for being infamously grumpy and difficult to please but one thing many of them appear to agree on for the time being is the negative impact that hosting the Olympic Games is having on the city and its residents.
Complaints include the amount of money being sunk into Olympic infrastructure, such as the new €1.4-billion-euro storm basin at the Gare d’Austerlitz that is helping to make the Seine swimmable again. Neither do residents in the City of Love have much affection for the way metro ticket prices have doubled ahead of the events. Many commenters on social media sites are urging people to stay away, pointing to traffic and people management measures and barriers requiring QR codes that they say are making the city unliveable.
While many Parisians would never dream of spending summer in the city whether the OIympics are there or not, escaping annually for other climes, now it seems tourists are taking the local Olympic naysayers at their word and staying away as advised.
Visitor numbers 30% down
And with accommodation prices up by over 100% in some hotels and guest houses, who can blame them? Some believe it’s the fault of hoteliers and Airbnb rental owners trying to cash in on the sporting extravaganza, who have instead turned tourists off, with rocketing prices pushing people to delay their travel to France until after the Games.
That view is borne out by figures from some market analysts that show, rather than the huge influx on tourism the Games were anticipated to bring, visitor numbers are down on usual seasonal averages by as much as 30%. A New York Times review of available accommodation found thousands of empty beds and room prices gouged over a year ago that are now being urgently slashed in a desperate attempt to get them filled.
In mid-July, the phenomenon of deferred travel due to the presence of the Olympics in Paris was even being cited in earnings warnings from airlines. Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, told CNBC that the company’s summer profits would be $100 million down as a result.
However, city authorities continue to drown out the negative voices with enthusiasm. Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine in front of the cameras last week, to prove that the waters were now safe to swim and that the river is fit to take its place at the heart of the opening ceremony, when barges carrying international teams will parade down the waterway in a spectacle that is free to access.
