The phrase underlined by the director of the French capital’s Tourism Observatory, Thomas Deschamps, is “Paris is full”, and refers to the weekend of May 28, when Liverpool and Real Madrid meet at the Estadio de France in the Champions League final, the cause of this collapse.
In the absence of days for the match, he points out that reserves are close to 90%, a rate that has risen from 10 to 15% because of the match, according to data from his office. When UEFA decided to withdraw the Champions League final to Saint Petersburg, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, and attribute it to Paris, the telephones of tour operators began to smoke.
That Saturday will not be an ordinary day in the capital of the Seine. Thursday the 26th is the only weekday holiday in the month of May in France, which is a bridge that many inhabitants of the provinces take advantage of to visit the Eiffel Tower and the rest of the city’s attractions. The reservation books of the hoteliers were already quite full and to this was added the final of the Champions League, which will bring together some 75,000 people in the north of the city to decide who will be the next European champion.
It was the final twist to fill Paris. “I think it’s still possible to find a room, but there may be problems finding one that isn’t too expensive or that’s good value for money,” explains Deschamps.
The most expensive remains and, for this reason, the person in charge of the Tourism Observatory encourages fans who have not yet done so to hurry up and look for all kinds of alternatives, such as tourist apartments, youth hostels or even the camping site that there is in the city.
PRICE INCREASE
The increase in supply has also caused a rise in price, although Deschamps believes that, in the case of Paris, a city accustomed to receiving a large number of visitors throughout the year, it will not be as spectacular as when the final of the Champions League reaches smaller stages and with less supply. His calculations suggest that the rise may be between 10 and 15%, far from the rise of up to 50% found in other cases.
The prices of flights have also risen, encouraged by the increase in demand. Between 15 and 20% more reservations registered from Spain for that weekend, in line with the good behavior that Spanish tourism has been registering in Paris for a few months.
Because the Spanish are the first who seem to have left the Covid crisis behind when it comes to their visits to France. The number of visitors is almost similar to that recorded in 2019, while other destinations are still below pre-pandemic figures.
Deschamps does not expect the Champions League final to increase visits to museums, but he does expect Spanish and British fans attending the final to enjoy the city’s bars and restaurants. “The hoteliers will take advantage,” says the head of the Tourist Office, who also believes that they will be seen in open-air monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower, and in the many parks in the city.
Each team has been entitled to 20,000 tickets, another 12,000 went on sale in April and the rest are in the hands of UEFA. The Tourism Observatory believes that the high-end hotel industry will benefit more from the event than the medium and low-end ones.
