The Olympics in Paris do not seem to be a cash cow for the tourist industry. In some cases, the opposite. Expensive hotels, security barriers, and an elevated terror threat level may have deterred people from visiting the city this summer.
People are not coming, says Mohammed Mjahid, who works at a café in Paris.
The world's most expensive sporting event is around the corner, and millions of visitors are expected to arrive in Paris.
All Olympic Games since the Rome Games in 1960 have exceeded their budgets – 170 percent on average, according to the University of Oxford. And this year's Summer Games do not seem to be an exception. The budget is around 100 billion kronor.
Many Metal Fences
And it is far from certain that the Olympics will attract large numbers of tourists to an otherwise popular destination like Paris. Crowds, expensive Olympic tickets, barriers, and the terror threat level – which is the highest possible in France – may be reasons that keep people away.
Thierry Marx, chairman of the French hotel and restaurant union UMIH, laments the many metal fences that have been set up along the Seine River, where the Olympic opening ceremony will take place.
In some areas, we have almost 60 percent less revenue, he tells BFM-TV.
The organizer Paris 2024 points out that when London hosted the Summer Games in 2012, there was an increase in the number of tourists in several years afterwards. Olympic tourists also spend more money than "ordinary" tourists, according to the organizer.
But right now, the downturn is enormous for someone like Mohammed Mjahid and his family, who run a café inside the cordoned-off area by the Seine. He estimates that sales have dropped 90 percent in the past week.
Not much money is coming in, it's bad. People are not coming. There are many controls, and in some places, you need QR codes to get in.
He hopes that sales will pick up after the opening ceremony, when some restrictions are lifted.
Thousands of Kronor
The hotel industry is also struggling compared to normal summer months, and it is now being reported that hotels are lowering their prices to attract last-minute guests. The average price per hotel night is currently 4,000 kronor in the Paris area, which can be compared to 2,400 kronor in July and 1,900 kronor in August 2023, according to the Paris je t'aimes tourist office's statistics from last month.
Air France-KLM has, in turn, forecast a loss of two billion kronor due to decreased travel to France. And American Delta Air Lines expects one billion kronor less in revenue than normal.
They will still make money during the summer months, just less than normal, says travel analyst Daniel Burnham to ABC News.
