Paris tourism industry takes hit during Olympics

While big crowds have gathered to watch the Olympic Games, the tourism industry in Paris has taken a surprising hit this summer. Elaine Cobbe explains why.

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[Nornapeln]

Keep in mind that hospitality prices skyrocketed. That decline is the cost of their own greed

[SliderDuck]

Don't want to hear it, hotels jacked up the hotel prices 3 and 4 times normal rates. They can only blame themselves for this.

[milhouse]

This is not news. If i want to visit Paris then I'll do it after the Olympics. It's just plain common sense.

[dfa]

Paris is Paris. Really does not need the Olympics to showcase their city. If I'm planning a visit to Paris and not interested in the Olympics I too would avoid going during the 16 days. I'll chose other times.

[eddieg]

Beautiful city……..that I would NEVER VISIT during the Olympics, or any other huge event.

[jeffreymorrison]

People are more informed, i was planning a trip but we got advanced price notice ... all of france figured they would suck tourist dry. No thanks ... lots of surounding great places to spend ur money... paris is not one of them this year.

[Kenzie_Hill]

Reporter forgot to mention the price hike (tripled price of a hotel room; hotel tax added just for the olympics; record crowds; and half the sites were completely closed or pre-booked and walk-ins were turned away. Olympics didn't help, but the city and hotels sure were making money in other ways (just not food)

[vincesales]

I was in Paris during the Olympics. And, because of the overall positive experience I had visiting the city in terms of its transportation system, the food, the welcoming neighborhood atmosphere and people, the museums and how they curated items from their exhibition to the Olympic celebration, I will definitely visit Paris again and again. The French did an excellent job! Beyond the medals, the heroic athletes, the other champion is Paris!

[aab]

If it's not unusual to see tourism drop. Then why are you even covering this story

[patricktam]

Seems like Olympics host cities don’t seem to see a whole lot of increased revenue in tourism from it in general and really end up losing after you take into account the cost of all the infrastructure upgrades cities do to accommodate it.

[alexghaddar]

Inflation and over pricing stuff man. Unacceptable!

[Regular]

I went to Paris in December 2022 and a lot of the city was looking pretty rough tbh. My hotel was less than a 10 minute walk from The Louvre. I would like to see the city as it is now, during the summer and cleaned up for the games, to see the difference.

[gabrielcarvalho]

WHO named Paris as their favorite vacation destination? WHO?

[JoseTwitterFan]

Not to mention airfares are sky-high during the Olympics and cheaper during the subsequent Paralympics.

[tiamarrow]

Just to remind everyone…..most local Parisian’s go on vacation around this time so most places just aren’t open…..

[mxweng]

Greed. Most of them (hotels, Airbnbs) refuse to lower the price, so I decided not to go this year. French food looks artistic but tastes bland and very expensive. The only thing I found was Evian bottle water (less than 1 euro per bottle).

[sergiosantos]

I was there two weeks before the games…the city was packed and the hotels were more expensive than normal.

[joelcleare]

Yep. We skipped Paris this year. They may make it up next summer.

[sundragon]

In a way, hotel vacancies are a good thing. Athletes able to flee the Olympic Village (in search of air conditioning and comfy beds) can find accommodations.

[___beyondhorizon]

I postponed my trip to Mt St Michelle, don't want to deal with crowds, extra security and inflated prices. It'll be my 6th or 7th trips to France 😊 i love Nice and the French Riviera