Article source: "JO 2024: la communication anxiogène agace les professionnels de l'hôtellerie et la restauration", Guillaume Dussourt and Ameline Lavechin, RMC, 10/01/2024.
The mayor of Paris is warning that the transport system won't be ready in time to handle the influx of passengers at the Olympics. Meanwhile, the president of the regional authority and even the French transport minister have said that Parisians will have to work remotely to avoid overburdening the system... The hotel industry has had enough of these "anxiety-inducing" messages about the 2024 Olympics.
In an open letter addressed to the French government, Paris city hall and the local police prefecture, a syndicate of the city’s hoteliers and restaurateurs (GHR) is calling for a more festive atmosphere in the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
"Why fear something you wanted so much?" asks the organisation, which is determined to give "the best possible image of our professions" during the Olympic Games.
"We were sold on the idea that the Olympics would be a wonderful opportunity, that it would be a sporting event that would bring people together,” said Pascal Mousset, president of a French association of independent hoteliers and restaurateurs, which is part of the GHR, during a radio interview on RMC. “We were shocked by the mixed messages that came out at the start of the winter, telling us to work from home and already predicting public transportation issues".
As a result, some Parisians and people from the suburbs are already feeling anxious. "I’m worried about public transport and the availability of hotel rooms," a local resident told RMC. "It's going to be difficult for workers. It’ll be more of an inconvenience than a moving experience for French people," added another. A third member of the public, David, who was very happy to welcome the Games to his city, is more of a glass-half-full kind of person: "We're expecting a lot of people, so there might be some minor issues, but I think it'll go well," he said.
"We need to look on the bright side"
This is the kind of messaging that hotel and catering professionals want to hear from the authorities. "We need to look on the bright side, we should not be so pessimistic," said Franck Galveau, local president of the French hoteliers union, the UMIT, for the Greater Paris region.
Many Parisians are already planning to leave the capital. For Galveau, those who want to stay should be reassured: "If we tell people not to go out and to work from home instead, that's fewer customers for our hotels, our cafés, our restaurants and our bars," he said.
"We can't have ghost neighbourhoods"
"We need people to come to Paris, we need to keep our businesses alive […] we can't have ghost neighbourhoods," warned Pascal Mousset, during the RMC interview.
However, accommodation is still a concern. According to a consumer association survey of 80 hotels, room rates have risen by 226% for the day of the opening ceremony (26 July). "That's an isolated phenomenon,” claimed Pascal Mousset. “You get abuses in every business. But, remember, tourist tax has increased by 300 %, energy prices have doubled and, in any event, hotels are free to set any price they choose".
In an effort to pull in the crowds, the GHR is calling for an extension of the curfew on café terraces until midnight during the Olympics. However, it is unlikely that this will be enough to convince local residents to stay put.
Translated by Charlie Juet, Cécile Lamhene and Zoé Vilers.
Editing by Sam Trainor.