‘Sports tourism’ is huge. But the Summer Olympics caused travel to Paris to plummet

Was it the Parisians who bluntly told travelers “do not come” to Paris during the Summer Games? Or did sky-high prices for hotel rooms, house rentals and event tickets turn travelers away? For a multitude of reasons, many people — including residents — avoided Paris in the build-up to the Olympic Games, despite prognostications that a travel boom was all but assured. Forecasts often focus on the number of people expected to attend the Games, while ignoring the number of travelers who are turned off by them. It’s a common misconception that host cities see an explosion of travelers around the Olympic Games, said John Grant, chief analyst at the aviation intelligence company OAG. “The phenomena of the Olympics is that the local market doesn’t travel,” he said. Plus “the regular business traveler who would normally be traveling during that moment in time, stops [and] stays at home.” London, Athens and Atlanta all saw a drop in summer visitors when they hosted the Summer Games, said Grant. “It just never quite achieves and delivers what’s expected,” he said. AirFrance-KLM on Thursday announced the company is anticipating a third-quarter hit to its unit revenues of E150-170m because of lackluster demand to visit Paris this summer. Air France flagged problems earlier this month, announcing on July 1 that traffic to and from Paris was lagging behind other major European cities. Not only was interest down, but “international markets show a significant avoidance of Paris,” the company stated. Similarly, Delta Air Lines is also projecting a big hit — upwards of $100m in revenue — because of a drop in travel volume to France as a direct result of the Summer Games. “Unless you’re going to the Olympics, people aren’t going to Paris,” CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC.<br/>