Interest in travel for the Olympic Games in Paris continues to rise.
Travel bookings to France during the Games are up 52% over the same period last year and hospitality occupancy rates in some cities have more than doubled.
According to Amadeus business intelligence data, as of June 6, international air travel to France is up 56% for the Olympic period (July 24 to August 13), while domestic air travel is up 31%.
The City of Light is expecting 72% more travellers during the Games than the same period last year. The Paralympics, between August 28 and September 8, will also boost travel to Paris by 16% over last year’s stats.
For the northern city of Lille, which is hosting basketball and handball, visitors will more than quadruple – overall, bookings to Lille are up 203% compared with last summer.
Most of these visitors will be from France: the city will see 300% growth in domestic travellers compared with 181% growth in international travellers.
Meanwhile, overall bookings to Bordeaux, which is hosting football, are up by 38%, the same increase as bookings to Marseille, which is hosting sailing and football.
Hotel occupancy
According to Amadeus business intelligence, by May 31, occupancy rates in France for the week of July 28 will be up 86% compared with the same week last year, and up 88% in the first week of August.
In Paris, hotels are almost fully booked. The occupancy rate is 81% for the week of July 28 and 76% the week of August 4. Last-minute planners may have a hard time finding a room in the weeks to come.
In Lille, hotel occupancy rates are at 56% for the week of July 28 and 35% for the first week of August, that’s 171% and 91% higher than for the same periods last year.
In Marseille, occupancy rates are nearing 70% for the last week of July, and 57% in the first week of August – that’s more than double the occupancy rates of those periods in 2023.
When it comes to alternative accommodation, insights from Amadeus’s partners at Key Data, show that at May 25, nights sold in Paris are up 64% for the Olympic period and up 74% for the Paralympic period compared with the same periods last year.
Currently, more than 50% of hotel bookings are made 0-14 days ahead of a stay, but these last-minute travellers may be in for a surprise.
Although average daily accommodation rates have come off the boil, a trip to France over the Olympic period will be costly. Right now, the average daily rate in Paris has fallen 13% to US$724 (R13 185), and in the rest of France it has fallen 7% to US$616 (R11 220), compared with a previous analysis on April 1.
