It was the Parisians who bluntly told travelers “do not comein Paris during the Summer Games?
Or he charged high prices for hotel rooms, house rentals and event tickets turn travelers away?
For many reasons, many people – including residents — avoided Paris in the build-up to the Olympics, despite predictions that a travel boom was all but assured. Forecasts often focus on the number of people expected to attend the Games, while ignoring the number of travelers excluded from them.
It’s a common misconception that host cities see a surge in travelers around the Olympics, said John Grant, chief analyst at aviation information firm OAG.
“The phenomenon of the Olympics is that the local market doesn’t travel,” he said. Furthermore, “the normal business traveler who would normally travel to that moment in time stops [and] he stays at home.”
London, Athens and Atlanta saw declines in summer visitors when they hosted the Summer Games, Grant said.
“It just never achieves and delivers what is expected,” he said.
Big losses from major airlines
Air France flagged problems earlier this month, announcing on July 1 that traffic to and from Paris lagged behind other major European cities. Not only has interest waned, but “international markets are showing significant avoidance of Paris,” the company said.
Similarly, Delta Air Lines it also predicts a big hit — more than $100 million in revenue — due to a drop in travel volume to France as a direct result of the Summer Games.
“Unless you go to the Olympics, people won’t go to Paris,” CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC.
None of this comes as a surprise, Grant said.
Neither airline increased capacity by much — Air France by 5 percent, and Delta by none — compared with last August, he said. Rather, their losses are related to fare pricing, he said.
“They’re left trying to sell fares at a higher price than market demand would support,” he said, adding that airlines eventually discounted those fares to get as much revenue as they could.
In its June tourism barometer, the Paris tourist board predicted a drop in international air arrivals in all markets ahead of the Olympics — down 8 percent in June and nearly 15 percent in July, compared with 2023.
The tourism board also expects an 11% increase in arrivals during the Games, driven by visitors from Europe (+24%) and North America (+15%), but offset by a sharp drop in arrivals from the Middle East ( -42%) and Oceania (-30%).
Licensed Airbnbs and unsold tickets
Hotels, too, are feeling the sting of Paris’ summer slowdown, with occupancy rates expected to fall to 60 percent in early July, about 10 points from 2023, according to the Paris tourism commission.
Like airlines, many hotels raised prices to take advantage of the tourism boom, only to drop them after a spring booking period.
But averages are up nearly 70 percent this July, from 202 euros last year to 342 euros during the Olympic season, the Paris tourism board said. Estimates from travel price comparison website Trivago show rates have risen even further, 85% year-on-year in Paris and 131% in Lille, which is hosting some of the Games’ basketball and handball matches.
OAG’s John Grant said not all airlines were hit by the Summer Games. Among the “winners” stood out Ryanair, which significantly increased capacity to Paris this summer.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Airbnb hosts are also cutting rates — some by more than 50 percent. A two-bedroom loft near Notre-Dame dropped its nightly price from $1,407 to $683 during the first week of the Games – which is lower than the nightly price in the fall.
Airbnb said listings in Paris hit an all-time high this summer as enterprising Parisians seized the opportunity to escape the crowds and cash in on sports tourists’ propensity to spend.
Airbnb told CNBC that tens of thousands of people in host cities have opened their homes for the first time. However, the company declined to say how many listings remained unbooked during the Games, instead telling CNBC Travel that: “The Paris 2024 Olympics is set to be the largest hosting event in Airbnb history, with more guests staying in local homes on the platform than any other event, ever before.”
Airbnb also said “domestic interest” in accommodation during the Games has never been higher than in the weeks leading up to the Paris Games.
“The Olympics are too big”
Last-minute travelers can still buy tickets to the Paris Games. Of the 10 million tickets on sale, 8.95 million have been sold or made available as of Thursday, the Paris 2024 press office told CNBC.
Even more are available in the ever-growing resale market, where a glut of expensive tickets attracts few buyers, according to an analysis by Financial Times.
In an era dominated by “sports tourism” and event-driven, experience-driven travel, it may seem strange that the pinnacle of the world’s games—in which the world’s top athletes compete in one of the most popular cities— lead to a greater increase in travel to the host city.
But not for the grant.
“The Olympics are very big … it’s not a specific event,” he said. “There is a gold medal in tennis, but it’s not Wimbledon.”
In addition, there are too many events, he said.
“You can’t say it’s not good quality, because it is [but] it’s just too general.”
—CNBC’s Zenith Wong contributed to this report.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the US broadcast rights holder for all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
