PARIS: ONLY 2% MORE INTERNATIONAL VISITORS DESPITE THE OLYMPICS

Tourism numbers in Greater Paris didn’t jump right after the Olympic Games. Figures released on March 20, by Choose Paris Region—the agency that boosts the area’s international appeal—revealed that in 2024, the capital and its surroundings saw 48.7 million visitors. That works out to only about a 2% increase, even though a major sporting event took place, and the number of international visitors still lags 4% behind pre-Covid levels from 2019.

Valérie Pécresse, head of the Île-de-France region, remarked, “2024 was an exceptional year for us, generally speaking.” She noted that the Olympic and Paralympic events gave the region a kind of spotlight it hadn’t seen before. Now, she believes it’s time to use that boost to improve the allure further and build tourism that’s both sustainable and balanced.

7.1 Million Stays during the Games

If you look closer, the area logged around 7.1 million stays during the Games—an 11% bump in short-term accommodations. Overall, in 2024, the region’s 48.7 million visitors only edged up by 2% from 2023. Meanwhile, tourism revenue climbed to roughly €23.4 billion, showing an 8% increase. For context, back in 2023, visitor numbers and revenue rose about 8% and 11%, respectively.

Still, the hotel industry didn’t catch the same lift, with 68 million hotel nights recorded—a 4% drop that experts chalk up to the Games changing typical seasonal patterns.

During the Olympic and Paralympic periods, French tourists made up around 2.8 million stays (a 15% increase), while international visitors accounted for nearly 2.3 million (up 4%). Breaking it down further, approximately 281,000 of those overseas stays were by Americans—up 4%—and the British contributed about 280,000 stays, rising by 3%. In most cases, the Games clustered visitors at Olympic sites, and this re-routing led to a roughly 20% drop in attendance at museums and monuments.

August 2024: +84% Airbnb Offers

The rental market paints another part of the picture. Since the post-Covid times, furnished holiday rentals in the Greater Paris area have surged noticeably—and this trend is expected to go even stronger with the Olympics. According to data from Inside Airbnb, as of August 2024 there were around 149,936 listings across Greater Paris. Of those, about 124,988 were available for booking, with an average nightly price of roughly €259. Not surprisingly, most of these listings—about 61%—are concentrated in Paris itself and in nearby towns. Summer 2024, in particular, saw supply peaking with an increase of 84% compared to August 2023.

Americans Are the Most Numerous Tourists in Paris

On the demographic side, Greater Paris hosted roughly 26.1 million domestic tourists over the past year—a modest 1% increase compared to last year but an 8% drop against 2019. In addition, approximately 22.6 million international visitors arrived, which is a 3% lift compared to the previous year and a 2% rise from the 2019 figures. Among foreign visitors, Americans led the pack with about 2.7 million arrivals (a 3% increase over 2023), followed by approximately 2.6 million British, 1.6 million Italians, 1.5 million Germans, and 1.4 million Spaniards.

Tourism spending in the region totaled around 23.4 billion euros. Domestic tourists contributed roughly 8.5 billion euros—a 7% increase from last year—while international visitors brought in about 14.9 billion euros, an 8% rise. All in all, even as the Olympics shined some unexpected light on the region, the shifts in visitor patterns suggest there’s still room to make lasting improvements in how tourism is spread and enjoyed.