How did the Olympics lead to a drop in the number of tourists in Paris?

How did the Olympics lead to a drop in the number of tourists in Paris?

Did Parisians bluntly tell tourists they were “not coming” to the Olympics, or did the high prices of hotel rooms, house rentals, and event tickets deter travelers from coming? For many reasons, people, including residents, are avoiding Paris this summer, despite forecasts that a travel boom was all but assured.

It’s a common misconception that host cities see an explosion of passengers around the Olympics, said John Grant, chief analyst at aviation firm OAG.

“The phenomenon of the Olympics is that the local market does not travel,” he said. Plus “a business traveler who would normally travel at that moment, stays at home”.

London, Athens and Atlanta saw a drop in visitors during the summer when they hosted the competition, Grant said.

Major losses of key airlines

AirFrance-KLM has announced that it expects to see a drop in revenue of 150-170 million euros ($163-184 million) in the third quarter due to weak demand for visiting Paris this summer.

AirFrance flagged the problems earlier this month, announcing on July 1 that traffic to and from Paris was lagging behind other major European cities. Not only has interest waned, but “international markets are showing significant avoidance of Paris,” the company said.

A similar situation is with Delta Air Lines. The company also anticipates a large loss of more than $100 million in revenue due to reduced travel to France as a direct result of the Olympics.

“Unless you’re going to the Olympics, people don’t go to Paris,” director Ed Bastian told CNBC.

None of this is a surprise, Grant pointed out.

Neither airline increased capacity by much — AirFrance by 5 percent and Delta at all compared to last August, he said. Instead, their losses relate to fares, he said.

Accommodation units

Airbnb hosts are also cutting their rates, some by more than 50 percent. A two-bedroom loft near Notre Dame dropped its nightly rate from $1,407 to $683 during the first week of the Games, which is lower than the nightly rate during the fall.

Airbnb said listings in Paris reached an all-time high this summer, as enterprising Parisians seized the opportunity to both escape the crowds and cash in on sports tourists’ propensity to spend.

Airbnb is for CNBC said that tens of thousands of people in the host cities opened their homes for the first time. However, the company declined to say how many accommodation units remained unbooked during the Games, instead telling CNBC Travel that:

“The Paris 2024 Olympics is set to be the biggest hosting event in Airbnb’s history, with more guests staying in local homes thanks to our platform than at any event ever before.”

Airbnb also said that “domestic interest” in staying during the Games has never been higher than in the weeks leading up to the Paris Olympics.

Airbnb, accommodation (Unsplash)

“Olympics is too broad”

Last-minute travelers can still get tickets for the Paris Games. Of the 10 million tickets sold, 8.95 million had been sold as of Thursday, the Paris 2024 press office told CNBC.

Even more are available on the ever-growing resale market, where an overabundance of expensive tickets attracts few buyers, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.

In the era in which “sports” rule today tourism” and travel centered on events and experiences, it may seem surprising that the peak of global competitions, where the world’s athletes compete in one of the most popular cities, has not resulted in more travel to the host city. But not Grant.

“The Olympics is too broad… it’s not a special event. There is a tennis gold medal, but it’s not Wimbledon,” he said.

Besides, there are too many events.

“You can’t say they’re not good quality, because they are, but it’s just too generic,” he concluded.

Source: BIZLife

Photo: AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, AP Photo/David Goldman, File, Unsplash