by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:55 AM ET, Tue July 16, 2024
Travelers are heading everywhere but Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics, according to recent reports that show that hotels and airlines who banked on increased popularity might be missing out on revenue this summer.
Delta Air Lines, which has 70 percent of the market between France and America and holds a partnership with Air France, expects to take a $100 million hit after expanding its flight schedule after experts predicted that the global sporting event would draw more travelers to the City of Light than usual. Air France is expected to take a $180 million hit.
“International markets show a significant avoidance of Paris,” said Air France-KLM, Air France’s parent company. “Travel between the city and other destinations is also below the usual June-August average as residents in France seem to be postponing their holidays until after the Olympic Games or considering alternative travel plans.”
Yet the interest is taking a different direction, with travelers heading to other destinations. Luxury travel advisors here in the U.S. are reporting less demand than expected for the city during the Olympic season, with travelers heading elsewhere in Europe instead, with more modest-spending travelers choosing to head to the event.
Instead, the travelers that will visit Paris during the Olympics are expected to be attendees themselves, and many of them, French.
Last October, numbers from Paris je t’aime, the city’s tourism board, expected Paris to welcome 15.3 million travelers, 3.3 million of which were Olympics attendees and 1.9 million of which were from other countries. Now, the board estimates 11.3 million visitors, with a reduced 1.5 million international tourists.
According to Bloomberg, hotels are being hit with the lack of demand. Occupancy is expected to reach around 80 percent, far below that of Olympics’ past.
Alan Bachand, owners of sports travel firm 14sb, told Bloomberg that sales for hotels in Paris have fallen 80 percent short of expectations.
“This is the first time in 25 years that we will accept less money than we paid for hotel rooms that we contracted 30 months ago,” said Bachand.
While it seems certain that Paris won’t welcome as many international visitors for the Olympics that it had hoped this year, it’s still expected to be the most-visited destination in the world by international travelers, according to data by ForwardKeys.
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