Paris will be in the spotlight but the Olympics aren’t driving agent bookings

The City of Light will soon be in the limelight and some expect that that will serve its tourism trade well, while several Toronto-area travel agents and one tour operator in turn predict that a looming sports extravaganza won’t do anything to boost their own business.

The Paris Olympic Games are drawing close, with some prominent voices in the travel industry saying that it will generate additional interest among the world’s travellers in visiting the French capital.

The games run from July 26 to Aug. 11 and will be viewed by hundreds of millions of people around the globe on television, giving Paris huge exposure.

“With the advent of the 2024 Olympics in Paris there has been considerable media attention on France,” says Renta Snidr of NARAT. “Being a leisure operator, we have observed an uptick with consumer interest in visiting Paris, together with touring other areas of France. NARAT tour programs visiting Paris are operated outside the period of the 2024 Games, for the most part, due to logistical factors, including supply and pricing. There is no question that the Olympics have enhanced the travel appeal of the country.”

However, Caroline Mongrain of World Expeditions says its affiliated European active travel specialist UTracks reports a few travellers mentioned the Olympics as a good reason to shun the city when the games are taking place, apparently concerned about possible throngs of visitors and loud celebrations.

“Most were mainly interested in avoiding the city of Paris during the biggest sporting event of the year,” she reports. “This doesn’t come as a surprise, as UTracks’ active holidays attract travellers looking for quieter regions of Europe. This summer, some of the company’s most popular trips in France were to discover the historic heart of the country by bike along the Loire Valley, take a reflective journey in Normandy on the 80th commemoration of D-Day, and explore the best of Provence by boat and bike.”

Cities that host the Olympics often state after the games that the competitions didn’t deliver the numbers of visitors they had hoped for, with some potential tourists apparently scared off by expected large crowds and hotels jacking up their rates.

Normandy was a focal point of international attention when world leaders recently gathered there to mark the 80th commemoration of D-Day on June 6. D-Day is often described as “the beginning of the end of World War II.”

UTracks also says the Loire, France’s longest river, features grand, imposing châteaux, such as Amboise, Clos-Lucé, Blois, and Chaumont-sur-Loire, all surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens.

Mongrain adds that Provence is home to “the wilderness of the Camargue, where wild horses roam, to Mediterranean sandy beaches, Provence is all about lavender fields, spectacular limestone foothills of the Alpilles, and quaint villages brimming with art studios and cultural relics.”

Pat Probert of Toronto’s Bob Family Travel reports he and others arrived in Paris recently and while he was touring the city he saw them “shutting down streets and blocking off venues like the Eiffel Tower and setting up viewing areas with stands on the Seine River, so preparations are well underway.”

The Olympic surfing competitions will be held in Tahiti, another part of the world that the agency sent people to in February, with Mary de Almeida, manager of The Bob Family travel team at Travelonly, stating that the locals “were very excited to have the surfing competitions.”

Probert says that hotel prices in parts of France doubled and in some cases tripled as D-Day commemorations and the Olympics approached. “However in the past couple of weeks prices have started to fall so if you booked a refundable rate you might check current prices for your hotel,” he adds.  “You might even get a better hotel for less money.”

Another Toronto agent, Paragon Travel’s Paul Nielsen, says he “only had one family who wanted to go to Europe during that time with some interest in Paris and I strongly changed their mind.  Sent them to Punta Cana instead at March Break. I didn’t want to inflict the Olympics on them. When it comes to the Olympics and other events like that, it tends to be about the athletes and their families.

“However there are events that come around only once in a while. Florian in the Netherlands for example. It’s not soon. However, next year — this is your planning moment — is a jubileaum in Rome. Every 25 years. They’re busy, busy, busy already. I know I’ll be doing some promotion in the area, telling people to let me book them now to get rooms that are cancellable.  No risk.”

Ethel Hansen-Davey of Uniglobe Enterprise Travel in Toronto in turn says the Olympics have turned out to be a non-issue for her, which has been the case in the past as well.

“I can honestly say that I have not had one inquiry,” she reports. “Not one. In no time in the past, for any Olympics, have I had enquiries, no matter where they were held.”