"Louvre and Eiffel Tower Closed"... Tourism Industry in Tears [Paris Olympics]

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Those planning a trip to France to coincide with the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics on the 26th must check the opening and closing schedules of major tourist attractions such as the Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower. The French tourism industry is lamenting that due to the closure schedules of key tourist sites, they are suffering losses rather than benefiting from an Olympic boom.

According to the tourism industry on the 23rd, the Louvre Museum has decided to allow entry only to visitors who have booked tickets in advance until the 8th of next month, when both the Paris Olympic and Paralympic schedules conclude. Additionally, to strengthen identity verification, all entrants are required to carry identification. As preparations for the Olympic opening ceremony proceed in central Paris, from the 18th to the 24th, the museum has limited entry to just one entrance. The Louvre Museum will be closed on both the day before and the day of the opening ceremony, the 25th and 26th.

The Louvre Museum is not the only place restricting visitor access due to the Olympics. The Eiffel Tower will be closed on the opening day, the 26th, and considering the increased security in the surrounding area during the week leading up to the ceremony, only visitors with advance reservations will be allowed entry. Other major tourist sites, including the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-?lys?es, certain facilities within Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the Mus?e d'Orsay, will also not admit visitors on the day of the opening ceremony.

On the 18th, French police were verifying the identities of citizens in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Not only major tourist sites but also many cinemas in Paris will close and suspend operations during the Olympic period. Although public transportation and security checks will become more complicated during the Olympics, it is expected that fewer visitors will come to cinemas, and operating them could cause financial and staffing difficulties. Pierre Edouard Vasseur, head of Cin?ma du R?el, an independent French film network, told a French media outlet, "We are the biggest losers of the Olympics," explaining that staff have difficulty commuting due to public transport issues, causing delays in film screenings and service disruptions, which led to this decision.

The reason why Paris’s major tourist sites and cinemas have made these decisions appears to be based on observations from previous Olympics, where cultural and tourist sites suffered damage. According to France24, during the 2012 London Olympics, the number of visitors to cultural venues such as cinemas and museums in London dropped by as much as 30% compared to usual. The British Museum, a representative London tourist attraction, saw a 25% decrease in visitors during the two weeks of the Olympics compared to the same period the previous year, and the London Zoo experienced a 40% decline.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The decline in visitors to Paris due to the Olympics has already been foreshadowed in the performance of hotels and airlines. Ahead of the Olympics, tourists have been reluctant to visit Paris due to concerns about traffic congestion, leading to a significant drop in reservations at luxury hotels in Paris. The UMIH Prestige, an association of luxury hotels in Paris, told Bloomberg that reservation rates for the last week of June and the entire month of July have decreased by 20-50% compared to the same period last year. Laurence Block, deputy general manager of Plaza Ath?n?e, a luxury hotel in central Paris, said, "In my 24 years of experience, I have never seen anything like this," noting that after temporary Olympic-related facilities were set up in Paris, some July reservations dropped by 15%.

French airline Air France-KLM also warned earlier this month that a significant portion of expected visitors during the Olympics might not travel to Paris, raising concerns about revenue losses. They reported that the number of airline passengers traveling to and from Paris is not reaching the levels of other major European cities, and travelers appear to be avoiding trips to Paris. Many seem to be postponing their vacations until after the Olympics or making entirely different plans.