Paris’s historic Marais district, which regularly draws hordes of tourists to its elegant boutiques, museums and restaurants, is pretty empty on these days. Tourism in the French capital is facing a slowdown, with visitors avoiding one of the world’s most visited cities. Olympics.
“The second part of July will surely be catastrophic for cafes and bars in Paris,” Rémi Calmon, director of SNEG and Co, a union representing food and beverage companies in the French capital, told DW.
“The streets are deserted; the Parisians have fled. We had metal barriers fencing in cafe terraces in restricted zones for the opening ceremony, blocking the view. Some roads and metro stations are closed, resulting in few to no clients,” said Calmon.
The affected restaurants, Calmon said, are those in high-security areas near the Seine, which were all but closed for days before last week’s lavish opening ceremony. Restaurant owners have noticed their sales drop more than 50%. Some are worried about paying rent and salaries. “It brought back bad memories of the Covid era,” Calmon said.
The French government has promised to take into account the possible payment for companies, but the big question is whether tourists will return in droves when protective restrictions around the opening rite are eased.
The figures so far are not encouraging. Major airlines say the Olympics have dampened the same summer appetite for vacations in the French capital, leading to slow bookings and empty seats.
Delta expects a loss of $100 million between June and August, while Air France-KLM said it expects a decline of 150 million euros ($162. 3 million) to 170 million euros ($184 million) in Games earnings in the third quarter.
On July 1, the airline said traffic to and from Paris lagged behind other major European cities. Not only has interest waned, but “international markets appear to significantly avoid Paris,” Air France-KLM said on its website.
“A lot of other people avoid Paris because they don’t need to deal with the strain of potentially crowded subways during the Olympics, traffic jams, imaginable strikes, imaginable terrorist attacks,” said Gail Boisclair, who runs PerfectlyParis, a furnished apartment rental company. . agency, he explains to DW.
Most of Boisclair’s unwavering consumers are business travelers from the United States, who have to leave Paris for other European destinations. They postponed their stopover in the French capital until next year.
Even small tourism businesses are feeling the effects. For example, Photo Perfect Paris, a company that offers tourists photo shoots at the monuments of the French capital.
Photographer and business owner Sophia Pagan told DW that her sales dropped from an average of 20 consumers per month to just 3 consumers during the Olympics.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to in the tourism industry agrees that we thought the Olympics were going to be a gold rush, a really amazing year. But it didn’t happen like that at all,” Pagán said.
One of the main reasons for this crisis is the high costs of everything from accommodation and hotels to metro tickets. Many hotels raised their rates to take advantage of the expected surge in tourism and cut rates after a slow spring of bookings.
Still, average fares rose about 70 percent in July, from 202 euros ($219) last year to 342 euros ($370) during the Olympic period, according to the Paris Tourist Board.
Many Parisians also rented their homes at inflated prices and benefited from the expected influx of tourists. But this bet did not pay off.
Projections have gone from 15 million tourists attending the Olympic Games to 11 million. The Paris Tourist Office says around 1. 5 million foreign visitors are expected for the Games, while the majority of Olympic ticket holders are French residents.
“Most of them only come to Paris for one or two nights or four or five nights at most. They probably also have friends, family or friends of friends in Paris,” says Gail Boisclair. “Therefore, few of them will rent apartments or stay in hotels. ”
A look at some popular booking sites shows that thousands of rental apartments are still empty as costs have plummeted and materials still exceed demand.
Still, some hope things will return to normal as the games take off and sports enthusiasts and Olympic ticket holders can make up for some of the lack of tourists.
“We are sure that bars and restaurants will be able to compensate for their losses if the influx increases in August,” said Rémi Calmon. “The Olympic Games are wonderful for France’s reputation and are a festive event. But so far there is nothing festive for us. Much depends on the security measures we will be subject to in the coming weeks.
Many Olympic and Paralympic venues will be set up in central Paris, with open water swimming and triathlon events on the Seine, beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, cycling and marathon events, all meandering through the historic city centre. As a result, many roads, bridges, and metro stations are closed.
For photographer Sophia Pagan, the biggest challenge is locating the locations for her 3 clients in August. He said most of the most sought-after iconic monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame Cathedral, are at least covered in Olympic venues, logos and security barriers and are now difficult to access.
“I don’t even know where to photograph my clients who come looking for those beautiful perspectives of Paris. I think I’ll have to look for completely new locations,” Pagán said.