France’s flag carrier braces for €180m hit as tourists shun Paris Olympics

Air France said bookings for travel from Paris to other destinations is also below average - Matthieu Rondel/Bloomberg

France’s flag carrier is bracing for a €180m (£153m) hit as tourists shun Paris during the summer Olympics.

Despite the supposed allure of the first Paris Games in a century, people are avoiding the City of Light in their droves, leaving airliner seats empty and depressing revenue, Air France revealed on Monday.

“International markets show a significant avoidance of Paris,” it said, with “traffic to and from the French capital lagging behind other major European cities”.

“Travel is expected to normalise after the Olympic Games, with encouraging demand levels projected for the end of August.”

The carrier, which is the official airline for the event, said the trend is expected to wipe up to €180m from group sales during the June-August period.

The lukewarm reception for the sporting extravaganza, which starts July 26, is in stark contrast to the 2012 London Olympics, which attracted more than 470,000 foreign visitors, according to Statista research, many of them from France.

Triple that number are estimated to have visited London just to sample the atmosphere without actually attending an event.

The 2012 London Olympics attracted more than 470,000 foreign visitors - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

While the London Games saw a temporary softening in the business travel market and retail sales in parts of the UK capital, they still proved a boon for British Airways with passenger traffic gaining 3pc on average through July and August 2012.

Air France said that travel between Paris and other destinations is also below average, suggesting French holidaymakers may be postponing travel until after the Olympics or considering alternative travel plans.

The airline said that figures for June hotel bookings issued by the Paris tourism board also reveal a similar trend of visitor-avoidance.

Eurostar, however, has predicted that this summer’s peak travel period – which coincides with the Games – will be its busiest ever, after tickets for London-Paris trains sold at triple the normal pace when they first went on sale.

There’s also evidence that tourists bound for the Olympics are choosing to base themselves in London and head to France for specific events, suggesting that Paris itself may be part of the problem rather than the games themselves.

Harrods managing director Michael Ward said in April that the UK department store is expecting a boost from tourists who are put off by the prospect of Olympic crowds, with “all of the visitors that normally would have gone to Paris coming to London instead”.

Air France made no mention of other factors that may be deterring tourists, such as concern that a victory for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in the second round of parliamentary elections could lead to unrest in Paris before the Olympics begin.

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