Paris Tourism Chief Talks Olympics, No-Influencer Policy

24.05.2024 - 19:15 / skift.com / Dawit Habtemariam / Corinne Menegaux

Paris is set to host the 2024 Olympics this summer, but it won’t be a major international tourism draw. Only 30% of the event attendees are from abroad. Its real value for the destination is going to be the images of professional breakdancing, skateboarding and other urban sports in the heart of Paris.

“It’s a way of showing that Paris is really implicated in this urban culture,” said Corinne Menegaux, director general of Paris je t’aime, the city’s tourism board.

Menegaux spoke with Skift about the impact of the Olympics on Paris, how the American market is performing, why 2024 is not the city’s best year for tourism, and why her organization does not pay influencers.

Skift: Last year, you told me that American tourist spending in Paris was “amazing” and was key to your destination’s recovery. How is the American inbound market doing right now?

Americans spend quite a lot. They’re driving the high-end luxury market. But we didn’t see any improvement last year or the year before. That [demand] has quite stabilized actually, because our currencies are quite stabilized versus one and the other. 

There’s a feeling Paris will be too expensive for tourists because of the Olympics.

I would say that hotels and food and beverage and everything will be increasing a little for this period. Still, honestly, this is really reasonable actually, versus what happened in the last games in other cities. 

And we’ve got to take into account that the public for the Olympics is mostly local people. So I would say it’s not the best year ever that we will have in terms of tourism actually in 2024. And the Olympics is not a driver for tourism.

What is the visitor profile for the Olympics? How much of it is international?

We only have 30% of people comingfrom abroad. So that’s not so much. The people who are coming from foreign countries want to support their country, the athlete, et cetera. 

If you look at the reservations and bookings, the [visitors from the foreign] countries are not the same whether it’s at the beginning or the end of the Olympics according to the different disciplines. It’s very linked to the discipline and the sports, which are shown at the moment. 

What will having the Olympics mean for your promotional efforts?

You will have incredible images of the Olympics in Paris because we’ve made the choice to have it in the heart of the city. What you will see is not so much new theaters or new rooms, but it’s more a way of living in Paris differently.  It’s a way of showing Paris, which is much greener than it was before, with new cycling lanes and the Seine, which is absolutely major for us.

And one of the major things that we want to show is a new dynamic with the Olympics. So it’s the local, but