Despite the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games being labeled as a success for the city, many local businesses are now claiming that hosting the event dramatically hurt their sales over the summer, citing stringent security restrictions around the city.
According to some store owners, this summer brought their worst sales number ever, even below the summer of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Tom Denaive, who owns a Jewelry store near the Louvre Museum reported that the streets and metro stations surrounding his store were restricted from mid-June through the end of the Paralympic Games in early September. “It was a dead street,” Denaive said. “I felt like we were back to the COVID days.”
The Louvre itself also reported a 22% drop in visitors during the Games as compared to the same time period last year.
Luxury candle store owner Marina Orlando also claimed that she saw a dramatic decrease in customers both before and during the Games, citing a 29% decrease in sales as compared to last year. For Orlando, the situation remains frustrating, “We were given a whole serenade about the Olympics, that it was going to be incredible.”
Despite what many store owners are reporting, early numbers indicate that the Games brought a huge spike in tourism to the city. According to leaked data from the city’s government, Paris saw over 1.7 million international visitors and 1.4 million French tourists during the Games, up 13% and 26% from 2023. Orlando says however, that those tourists never came to Paris with the intention of shopping, “they came for sports.”
“They spent so much on hotels, flights, tickets … they didn’t have much of a budget left for shopping,” Denaive added.
Another shop owner, Patrick Aboukrat, who is helping to represent more than 190 different shops and resturants in Paris’ central Marais neighborhood, stated that through mid-June until the end of July, shops in the area saw a 35-40% decrease in revenue. Aboukrat revealed that he, like many others in the area, eventually decided to close his store for the remainder of the Olympic season as the cost of operation was too high. “It was not worth it, and those near me who remained open told me it was empty,” Aboukrat added.
Officials are seemingly downplaying the complaints that they have received from the shop owners. Speaking to the press earlier this week, Olivia Grégoire, who works for the tourism ministry, said, “We often come across people who complain.” He also reaffirmed the city’s success in hosting the Games, reaffirming that despite the the stringent security measures limiting travel in Paris, that they were in place to maintain public safety.
The government will also be providing financial assistance to businesses impacted by the security measures at the Games, appointing a commission to hear compensation requests from those businesses. Specifically, Grégoire stated that only businesses within the perimeters targeted by security measures would be eligible for compensation, with cases set to be assessed beginning in January.
London was empty in 2012 as well. Fabulous for people going to the Olympics, not good for local businesses.
And yet London is one of the few modern-era host cities which has managed to get a positive ROI from the Olympics, plus a bunch of ancillary benefits.
I think the cost at the time was £9-10bn, and by most measures that has been returned by some billions of pounds with ongoing economic benefits. There is a whole new section of the city with improved transport links, still-increasing commerce and housing, a pretty cool park, and all the athletic facilities very much in use.
For a few £ anyone can book a swim in the Olympic pool, which is a real treat for us swimmers and swammers. I have seen football (soccer), rugby, and even an MLB game in… Read more »
The Olympics are a global media BUSINESS that generate substantial revenue for the IOC and its partners. The host cities, Paris in this case, often bear substantial costs with fewer lasting benefits from hosting the games as it is a purely media centric economic benefit to the host not the small businesses.