The Tourism Impact of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:15 PM ET, Tue August 13, 2024

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have officially come to a close, though the global buzz they generated about everything from breakdancing to Simone Biles cementing her status once again as a GOAT will likely last for weeks to come.

Now that the dust has begun to settle, it’s time to step back and assess the tourism impact of the games, as well.

Preliminary data released by Paris’ tourist office shows that the number of visitors in the Greater Paris metropolitan area during the Olympic Games (which ran from July 23 through August 11) amounted to about 11.2 million people.

That figure is in line with initial estimates, which projected about 11.3 million visitors over the course of the two-and-a-half-week global event.

Visitors to The City of Light from France made up the largest share of those in Paris during the games, amounting to 85 percent of all those in the area.

Additional visitor highlights released post-games include:

Tourists accounted for 27.7 percent of visitors overall during the Olympic Games or about 3.1 million people.
That figure breaks down to 1.4 million French tourists and 1.7 million international tourists.
The top three foreign markets for tourists were the U.S. with 230,000 visitors, Germany, which accounted for 130,000 tourists and the U.K., from which 115,000 people visited.

The games also boosted other long-haul markets, which showed significant growth. Most notably, the event attracted about 107,000 tourists from Brazil, which is a 109.4 percent increase over the number of visitors from that country in 2023.

The second most significant uptick in visitors came from China, with 82,000 tourists arriving in Paris during the games, which represents a 64.9 percent increase from one year earlier. Finally, visitors from Japan increased by 47,000, which is a 94 percent increase from 2023.

Day trippers (visitors who attended for one day, mostly French, from outside Paris) also made up a significant share of those in attendance at the games. They accounted for 27.7 percent of visitors in Greater Paris.

Overall, there were about 3.1 million day-trippers in Paris during the sporting extravaganza.

Hotel Occupancy During the Olympic Games

Hotel occupancy rates were also up in all of the départements of Paris' inner suburbs, per today’s data release. In particular, occupancy was up 13.1 points in Seine-Saint-Denis, 8.3 points in Val-de-Marne, and 13.1 points in Hauts-de-Seine.

The hotel occupancy rate in inner Paris meanwhile, reached 84 percent from July 23 to August 6. That’s an increase of 10.1 points over 2023.

The biggest increase was seen in the high-end market, with an occupancy rate of 85.5 percent, up 16.5 points from 2023.

"With the 'Olympic Games effect,' the whole of the Paris region benefited from a positive trend in visitor numbers, in both Olympic and non-Olympic areas," according to today's press release from Paris' tourism office.

Between the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games (which are taking place August 28 through September 8), international air arrivals to The City of Light are expected to tick upwards 7.9 percent over 2023.

The most significant number of visitors, 16.1 percent (or about 108,000 arrivals), are from North America. About 4.3 percent of the increase is being attributed to visitors from Europe, who account for about 76,000 arrivals.