Travel to Paris dropped because of the Summer Olympic Games
Was it the Parisians who bluntly told travelers “do not come” to Paris during the Summer Games?
Or did sky-high prices for hotel rooms, house rentals and event tickets turn travelers away?
For a multitude of reasons, many people — including residents — avoided Paris in the build-up to the Olympic Games, despite prognostications that a travel boom was all but assured. Forecasts often focus on the number of people expected to attend the Games, while ignoring the number of travelers who are turned off by them.
It’s a common misconception that host cities see an explosion of travelers around the Olympic Games, said John Grant, chief analyst at the aviation intelligence company OAG.
“The phenomena of the Olympics is that the local market doesn’t travel,” he said. Plus “the regular business traveler who would normally be traveling during that moment in time, stops [and] stays at home.”
London, Athens and Atlanta all saw a drop in summer visitors when they hosted the Summer Games, said Grant.
“It just never quite achieves and delivers what’s expected,” he said.
Big losses by key airlines
None of this is a surprise, said Grant.
Neither airline increased capacity much — Air France by 5%, and Delta by none — compared with last August, he said. Rather, their losses relate to fare pricing, he said.
“They’ve been holding out trying to sell fares at a higher price than market demand would support,” he said, adding that the airlines eventually discounted these fares to grab whatever revenue they could.
OAG’s John Grant said not all airlines took a hit because of the Summer Games. Among the “winners,” he singled out Ryanair, which significantly increased capacity to Paris this summer.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
In its June tourism barometer, Paris’ tourism board projected a drop in international air arrivals across all markets during the lead-up to the Olympic Games — down 8% in June and nearly 15% in July, compared with 2023.
The tourism board is also expecting an 11% increase in arrivals during the Games, spurred by visitors from Europe (+24%) and North America (+15%) but offset by sharp drops in arrivals from the Middle East (-42%) and Oceania (-30%).
Empty Airbnbs and unsold tickets
Hotels, too, are feeling the pinch of Paris’ summer slowdown, with occupancy rates expected to drop to 60% in early July, down some 10 points from 2023, according to Paris’ tourism board.
Like the airlines, many hotels raised rates to take advantage of the tourism bump, only to discount them following a spring season of slow bookings.
Still, average rates are up nearly 70% this July, from 202 euros last year to 342 euros during the Olympic period, Paris’ tourism board said. Estimates from the travel price comparison website Trivago show rates have jumped even more, up 85% year on year in Paris, and 131% in Lille, which is hosting some of the Games’ basketball and handballs competitions.
Airbnb hosts are also cutting rates — some by more than 50%. A two-bedroom loft…
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