Paris Olympics: Argentina players jeered by crowd during heated football quarterfinal against France

I’m cheering from the banks of the Seine in a plastic rain poncho, my dress soaked and loafers sloshing. The rain has not let up once during the four-hour Opening Ceremony, but as we watch boatloads of beaming athletes float past us one by one waving their national flags, my smile could not be wider. By the time the evening comes to an end, Celine Dion is belting Hymne a l'amour from a glittering Eiffel Tower—some in the crowd cry, others dance, or FaceTime family—and a contagious sense of universal joy ripples across Paris.

Paris est une fête! Especially during the Olympics. The French title of Hemingway’s legendary memoir A Moveable Feast is an apt encapsulation of what can only be called a dramatic vibe shift in the French capital in the last few weeks. Indeed, Paris is a party. The opening ceremony elated even the most hardened of local skeptics of the Olympic Games—locally: les Jeux Olympiques, the JO. Since then, the city has been suspended in a Disney-esque euphoria; the JO is now a multi-week carnival of good cheer.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, departed the island for Paris, France yesterday (August 7) to attend the Olympic Games. While in Paris Minister Bartlett will be instrumental in promoting Jamaica as a premier tourist destination through the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) Jamaica House initiative.

Rarely on the podium and banned from the Olympic opening ceremony, fifteen Russian athletes competing at this year’s Games have an uneasy status as “Individual Neutral Athletes” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

A test run meant to allow athletes to familiarise themselves with the marathon swimming course in the Seine River was cancelled on Tuesday due to concerns about the quality of the Paris waterway.

When Léon Marchand dives in, France holds its breath.

The summer of 2024 is in full swing and visitors are flocking to Europe from around the globe.

The Skift Travel Podcast is wrapping up its series on the Paris Olympics. Greg Klassen, senior director at Skift Advisory and former president and CEO of Destination Canada, joins Head of Research Seth Borko and Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of hosting large sporting events such as the Olympic Games.

Aug 1, 2024 • 5 min read

The arrival of the biggest summer sport events in Paris has led to a surge in hotel occupancy and room rates in the city in hotels using Mews. Occupancy rates for the next two weeks are 20% higher than in 2023, driven by last-minute bookings, which account for 35% of total occupancy during the sporty event. This is according to analysis by Mews, the cloud software for hotels, based on hundreds of Paris properties.

Major sports events attract not only fans but also tourists interested in experiencing the atmosphere and culture of the host city. For example, the Olympic Games or the UEFA Champions League offer the perfect occasion for tourists to explore the host cities while enjoying the sporting excitement. Civitatis, the leading curated online marketplace for guided tours and activities for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking consumers, recommends that tour and activity companies make the most of this growing segment and suggests a few strategies to leverage the rise of sports tourism:

The 2024 Olympics opened in Paris in spectacular style with thousands of athletes sailing along the River Seine past lively performers on bridges, banks and rooftops in an ambitious take on an opening ceremony.