PARIS– On a typical summer day, tourists flock to Paris’ historic Marais neighborhood, wandering its charming medieval streets lined with ultra-chic boutiques, admiring impressive private mansions, strolling through the elegant 17th-century square Place des Vosges, and filling busy restaurants. and bars.
But this summer has not been typical, and these streets, shops and cafes have been markedly emptier in the days leading up to the Paris Olympics – leaving businesses like Stolly’s Stone Bar, a pub popular with English speakers, longing for summers gone by.
It’s a far cry from what businesspeople expected when they first heard the The Olympics were coming to Parissays David Carroll, who was behind the bar on a recent slow weekday.
“Of course, it wasn’t the Olympics we were hoping for — until now, at least,” said Carroll, a Canadian who has worked in the neighborhood for 20 years. “It’s the same for everyone around here.”
Carroll attributes the light crowds to several factors, but most of all to the frightening effect of the security measures which have left tourists faced with metal fences, police checkpoints and demands for a special QR code they may have failed to obtain – a digital pass needed to access some popular areas before Friday’s highly secure opening ceremony along the River Seine.
Now visitors face major disruption after authorities reported fires and other sabotage of the high-speed rail network.
Some would-be tourists have decided to avoid Paris during the Olympics, fearing high prices, crowds or general chaos. Furthermore, many Parisians have escaped the city in their usual summer exodus – probably even more so this year.
“A lot of the tourists haven’t arrived yet and the Parisians have left, so it’s kind of a combination,” Carroll said. And as for the tourists here, “people can’t move around, so wherever they are, they’re kind of stuck in their zones.”
He is hopeful that this will be “the calm before the storm” and that after Friday opening ceremony, things will relax. But for now, it can be an ordeal to take even a simple urban trip.
Just ask Gillian Levison and Richard Mitchell. The British couple traveled by train from London this week precisely because, Mitchell said, they thought flying during the Olympics would be “a nightmare.” The train journey went well until they arrived at Gare du Nord, the train station in northern Paris, and discovered that their pre-ordered taxi had been cancelled.
There was an “incredible queue” for taxis at the station, Levison said, and although they felt lucky to find one, the odyssey to their Left Bank hotel took two hours and cost 200 euros ($217), exponentially more than it would have cost. . normally costs.
The irony is that the couple, who live in Dorset, England, have no interest in “these blessed Olympics,” as Levison puts it. “I’m definitely not here for that,” she said. Instead, they are going to a family wedding in the countryside and want to spend a few days in Paris first.
“It seems like they didn’t think much about how people were going to cross the river,” Mitchell said of Paris authorities.
All of this has certainly hurt the business hopes of Jean-Pierre Salson, owner of Factory’s Paris, a store in the Marais specializing in men’s fashion. Salson estimates that business is down 30% compared with the same period last year and probably 40% among American customers.
“It’s been very slow since the beginning of June,” he said, “and July is worse. There are much fewer tourists, from all countries. I think they are avoiding France and Paris because they are afraid of the Olympics. ”
And for those in Paris, it is especially difficult to get to the center, he added. “There are restricted areas that you cannot reach by car. So you have to walk and some metro stations are closed.”
Analysts say the high costs of traveling to Paris this Olympic season – and staying there once they arrive – mean some planes are landing with empty seats and hotels are not as full as they would normally be in the peak summer season.
Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights at ForwardKeys, a travel data company with access to airline ticketing data, said arrivals in Paris in the three weeks leading up to the Games were down 13% from a year earlier, which It means typical tourists are postponing trips. . But the number of people coming to Paris for the Games increased by 8% in arrivals during the Olympic period, he said.
Some tourists who traditionally flocked at this time of summer “were discouraged by high prices and communication about the number of new obstacles created by the Olympic Games”, such as the closure of monuments or difficulties in getting around, he said. . “These traditional travelers decided it would probably be great to visit Paris, but not at that time.”
Airlines are feeling the pain. Ponti said some planes arriving in Paris were not full after many airlines increased capacity for the Games and charged “really high fares”. Air France-KLM said it expects a 150 million to 170 million euro drop in Games revenue in the third quarter, while Delta expects a $100 million hit from June to August.
Visitors arriving in Paris face high prices at hotels, which leaves rooms empty, according to Tim Hentschel, CEO of Hotelplanner, a hotel booking platform. Paris hotels are reporting 70% occupancy, compared with 90% in the same period last year, he said this week, noting that the average rate was twice as high as it normally is – 700 euros a night.
“The prices they charged for hotel rooms in Paris and for trips to Paris during Olympic days were too high for consumers to bear,” Hentschel said, adding that hotels are now starting to drastically reduce rates.
Airbnb, on the other hand, hasn’t seen the same problems. It said in a statement that the Paris Olympics are “one of the biggest hosting events in Airbnb history, with more guests staying in local Airbnb homes than at any other event, ever before.”
Some business owners say they believe — or simply hope — that things will improve as the city becomes easier to navigate after Friday’s opening ceremony. Although authorities say rail disruptions could last until at least the weekend.
“It’s true, it’s very quiet now,” Guillaume Faller, who runs the Feria restaurant in the Marais, said this week. “Much calmer than the same period last year. But I think it will recover in a few days. Anyway, I hope so. But for now, the (situation) is clearly not what we expected.”
Salson, owner of the clothing store, believes it’s just a matter of patience.
“I (just) have to wait,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be back, because a lot of American customers told me in the spring, ‘Well, see you in September, October and November!'”
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AP Writer Courtney Bonnell contributed from Paris.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
