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From bedbugs to bomb hoaxes, should tourists avoid Paris? I live in the city and here's the reality
16.12.2023 - 23:53 / euronews.com
There’s a joke in certain circles, that whenever something goes wrong in Paris, we blame Emily. I think you know of whom I speak.
Ever since the Netflix hit show ‘Emily in Paris’ portrayed the city as some sort of picture-perfect paradise, airbrushed to within an inch of its life, it’s been one thing after another. In short, Emily jinxed us.
From strikes and bedbugs to bomb hoaxes, travellers could be forgiven for wanting to give the city a miss just now. But would they be right to do so? I live in the city - here’s why I argue not.
First up this year, there were the strikes. To be fair, there are always strikes in Paris. But those in the spring, expressing understandable frustration at Macron’s controversial pension reform, were particularly full-on. While many people sympathised with the cause, it was less easy to be enthusiastic about streets swamped with rubbish. The chic surrounds of Savoir this was not.
Then, no sooner had all that died down, there was bedbug-gate - when the world succumbed to some sort of media-fuelled mass hysteria akin to a moral panic. It’s true, there were some bedbug outbreaks, and some schools and cinemas were closed for a bit. But as several experts pointed out, bedbugs are on the rise everywhere - not only in Paris - and now everyone here seems to have pretty much forgotten all about it.
Still, all that pales in comparison to the wider concerns over security. As well as the usual protests (and occasional riot) there is the ongoing threat of terrorism in Paris - with France's national threat alert recently raised to the highest level possible.
And that’s not to mention the spate of bomb hoaxes in October. During that time, schools, airports and tourist sites such as the Louvre were all targeted - with the Palace of Versailles forced to close its doors several times in one week.
It's true that Paris hasn’t had the best year. But in the same way that the capital will never live up to Emily’s beret-wearing, bouquet-buying utopia, it also hasn’t been anything like as bad as the media has made out.
For the most part, life has gone on pretty much as normal throughout all of this. As I write, the bin lorry is rumbling past, an argument is unfolding over a cyclist jumping a red light and a dog just pooped on the pavement.
Judging by the data so far, it seems that visitors haven’t been put off either - quashing rumours that American tourists had been cancelling their trips to the capital.
According to the city’s tourist office, now known as ‘Paris je t’aime’, the impact to date has been very limited, with the various indicators (flight bookings, searches etc.) remaining stable compared with last year’s results.
This may have been given a boost by the Rugby World Cup, which saw the
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
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