● From our sister site, TheSportsExaminer.com ●
There was, as predicted, a lot of tourism related to the 2024 Olympic Games to Paris and the Ile-de-France region. But if you were not interested in the Games, you skipped Paris.
That’s what the early data shows in a snapshot report from the Paris je t’Aime (“Paris, I Love You”) tourism department, which released a preliminary statistical review of the Games period of 26 July to 11 August last week:
● 11.2 million people who attended some Paris 2024 activity
● Up 4% from the same period in 2023 (10.8 million)
● A little short of the projected 11.3 million
Tourists accounted for just 3.1 million of that 11.2 million total, or 27.7%, and of those, 45% were French. So, of the 11.2 million visitors to the Paris metro region for the Games, 85% were from France. That’s worth noting for the future.
Foreign guests accounted for 1.7 million, or 15% of the total. That’s up from 1.5 million in 2023, or a 13% increase, hardly a tsunami. It also means that if you weren’t coming for the Games, you didn’t go to Paris. Where the foreign guests came from did change for the Games:
● 1. 230,000 from the United States, up 21% over 2023
● 2. 130,000 from Germany, up 42%
● 3. 115,000 from Great Britain, up 21%
There were also significant increases from Brazil (107,000, up 109.4% from 2023), China (82,000, up 64.9%) and Japan (47,000, up 94%). But they didn’t stay that long. Data from U.S., German and British visitors showed an average stay of 2.9 nights. They came, they saw, they left.
There was also a huge number of “daytrippers,” people living in France, but outside the ile-de-France region, coming in to see the Games and then go home. They accounted for 27.7% of all visitors, equal to the total of all overnight stayers, from France and abroad.
The rest – 46.6% of the total – were not visitors, but Ile-de-France region residents who took part in the Games in some way, whether as ticket holders or going to a Games festival site. The Games were a major hit with Paris and the Parisians, who made the event come alive, especially as compared with the Covid-dampened Tokyo Games in 2021.
Takeaway: discounting residents who took part in some Games activity, the breakdown:
● 3.1 million French daytrippers (no overnight stay)
● 1.4 million French tourists (overnight stays)
● 1.7 million foreign tourists (overnight stays)
So the actual influx of overnight visitors into Paris for the Games was 3.1 million, vs. 2.6 million combined in 2023, or a 19.2% increase. That’s the Olympic bump. Not millions, but 500,000 across the 17 days of the Games.
The report stated that the displacement caused by the Games would be made up by tourism over the remainder of the summer (July to September), with the 2024 tourist totals expected to equal 2023 at 9.5 million.
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What about accommodations? The report noted:
“With the ‘Olympic Games effect,’ the whole of the Paris region benefitted from a positive trend in visitor numbers, in both Olympic and non-Olympic areas.
“Hotel occupancy rates are up in all the départements of the inner suburbs: +13,1 points in Seine-Saint-Denis, +8,3 points in Val-de-Marne, +13,1 points in Hauts-de-Seine.
“The hotel occupancy rate in inner Paris was 84% from 23 July to 6 August, up 10,1 points vs 2023.
“The biggest increase is for the high-end market, with an occupancy rate of 85,5%, up 16,5 points vs 2023.”
The key number of the 84% occupancy rate during the three days leading up to the Games and the first 12 days of the Games – up more than 10% over 2023 – then receding as sports finished and people left.
And the report noted specifically the huge increase – more than double – in stays in the Saint-Denis area. Why? Because of the events held there, especially rugby and track & field at the Stade de France and the closing ceremony. Accommodations close to the venues will do better than anywhere else at the Games for 2028, 2032 and forever.
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The Paris 2024 organizers also deserve credit for new programming concepts that drew a lot of interest during the Games:
● 213,000 spectators at the Parc des Champions, a new concept with daily celebrations of medal winners, music and giant screens, a parallel to the Medals Plaza seen at the Olympic Winter Games.
● 200,000-plus reservations to visit the unique Olympic Cauldron, the electronic “Olympic Flame” at the Tuileries Gardens.
And while there was no official count of the attendance at the Opening Ceremony along the Seine River, the City of Paris reported 358,500 people were counted in the opening ceremony “area” between 6 p.m. and midnight.
This was a magnet for foreign guests, with 62% of the crowd (221,600) from outside of France, led by Americans (23%), and visitors from Brazil, China and Mexico. French attendees were 136,900), with two-third from the Paris region.
~ Rich Perelman
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