Paris Olympics is around the corner, and the fans are eagerly waiting for the sporting extravaganza to kickstart, but it's not turning out as expected for the host country France. Hosting an event like the Olympics often works well in any country's favour in terms of boosting tourism, which directly benefits their financial conditions; still, it is not going the same way for France - a country with a rich sporting culture - especially football, with its team being two-time World Champions. France was expecting the Olympics to bring a much-needed financial boost to the country, but at the moment, they are on the verge of biting the dust.
The Olympics have turned out to be an expensive event for the host nation in the past couple of decades as they have to spend some extra billions to build all the stadiums and arrange facilities and security for a successful event. However, in the end, all the efforts somehow worked well in their favour, with the boost in tourism and the people travelling across the globe witnessing one of the biggest sporting extravaganzas lasting for a couple of weeks.
France, however, has not been able to draw tourists' attention to the Olympics period, despite being one of the top destinations in Europe for international travellers. The country has been on the bucket list of people across the globe due to its rich history and iconic moments, with the Eiffel Tower being the major attraction.
According to a report in the Telegraph, Paris 2024 is turning into a financial mess for France as the country has not seen any significant change in tourism interests. France expected tourism to hit the sky with the Olympics taking over the centerstage in their capital for a couple of books, but the hotel bookings, flights and tourist advisors have shown a different picture to them thus far.
{{/usCountry}}According to a report in the Telegraph, Paris 2024 is turning into a financial mess for France as the country has not seen any significant change in tourism interests. France expected tourism to hit the sky with the Olympics taking over the centerstage in their capital for a couple of books, but the hotel bookings, flights and tourist advisors have shown a different picture to them thus far.
{{/usCountry}}The report asserted that Air France is expected to report a loss of €180m in the current quarter. International travellers are avoiding travelling to France due to the Olympics as tourists expect the country to be more overcrowded than usual in that two-week span.
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France has always attracted the attention of tourists, but President Emmanuel Macron took a big bet to bring the Olympics to the capital, which required a whopping €7.5 billion (£6.3 billion) to stage the sporting jamboree.
Everything is going downhill for the European nation as the hotel bookings are extremely disappointing, with Paris expecting one of their worst summers in terms of tourism. There is still some spike in tourism around the opening ceremony, but it is hitting rock bottom during the entire period; according to a report from Insee, the occupancy is below the 81.4pc level the city saw in July 2023. The report further suggested that hotel prices are also falling despite a few days left in the tournament.
If things go the same way, France is eyeing a financial mess despite hosting one of the biggest sporting events globally.