After ‘le flop’ of the Olympics, Paris tourism set to experience ‘le slump’ for the rest of August

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Mission impossible: filling all the hotel rooms in Paris this summer.

As the French capital clears up after the closing ceremony of the Olympics, many more cheap travel deals are available to the city – with British Airways offering a two-night luxury break for under £200 per person, including flights from Heathrow and boutique accommodation in central Paris.

The ‘city of light’ was cheap to reach and stay in during the Games, as large numbers of tourists – particularly organised groups from North America and Asia – stayed away.

Hotel occupancy in June 2024 dropped 13 per cent on the previous year, according to analysis of the latest figures from the French statistics institute, Insee.

July and August are expecting to see deeper declines.

As with London in 2012, there is now a post-Olympics slump in visitor numbers and prices before the Paralympics begin on 28 August.

British Airways is selling a city break package on Tuesday 20 August, returning on Thursday 22 August, for £197 per person. The price includes flights from Heathrow to Paris CDG and a double room at the four-star boutique Hotel Mademoiselle – close to Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est.

From other UK airports, flights are widely available at around £100 return on the same dates – including on Vueling from London Gatwick to Paris Orly, easyJet from Luton to CDG and Ryanair from Birmingham or Manchester to Paris Beauvais.

Eurostar, which normally commands very high prices for August for direct trains from London St Pancras International to Paris Nord, is selling return tickets for under £200.

For Parisian businesses, the tourism outlook does not significantly improve after the Paralympics, which run from 28 August to 8 September. From 9 September onwards, Eurostar is bringing back its cheapest £78 return tickets on a wide range of dates and trains.

Return fares on Ryanair for flights from Birmingham, Edinburgh or Manchester to Paris Beauvais on 10-12 September are all at under £30 return, with Vueling charging £50 return from Gatwick.

As with previous Olympiads, the host city expects a long-term tourism boost after a worldwide audience saw Paris in a positive light.

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