Companies looking to attend the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris next year may have to make a Herculean effort to find accommodations and tickets.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris and other cities in France between Friday July 26 and Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. That’s right at the height of the busy summer travel season, and if summer 2023 is any indication, sports fans heading to the Games could be flying into one of the busiest European tourism years on record. Travel insurer Allianz is projecting a year-over-year increase in European travel from the U.S. of 55 percent between 2022 and 2023—and that’s without the Olympics in the mix.
With Hopper estimating that the cost of Europe-bound flights have risen 36 percent between 2019 and 2022—to an average of $1,167—an Olympic adventure won’t come cheap, and that’s not even accounting for the considerable outrage that’s being vented online over the cost of tickets for Paris Olympic events.
Paris 2024 officials say they have already sold 70 percent of the 10 million tickets available for the summer games, with 14 months still to go before the opening ceremony. “There is a very big appetite among the public, French and international,” Tony Estanguet, chairman of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, told the Associated Press, noting that while event tickets top out at 2,700 euros ($2,900), about four million tickets were priced at 50 euros or less.
On the positive side, Paris 2024 attendees will have a rare opportunity to see the opening ceremony for free. Rather than stage the event in a stadium, organizers will welcome athletes and visitors to the Summer Games with a boat parade along the Seine River, with viewing space available for up to 600,000 spectators. The iconic river also will be used for a variety of water-based events, including swimming, necessitating a massive cleanup project to make the Seine safe for competitors.
Visitors to the Summer Olympics will also have most of Paris at their doorstep to explore when not attending sporting events, including the Eiffel Tower (which will have a temporary beach volleyball stadium built at its base), the Louvre and the palace at Versailles (where the Olympic equestrian dressage and jumping events will be held).
The Pompidou Centre art museum, the city’s third most popular attraction, will remain open throughout the Games before shuttering for a 5-year renovation project beginning in 2025. However, Notre Dame Cathedral will remain closed until December 2024 as it undergoes reconstruction from the massive fire that devastated the church in 2019.
This article previously ran in our sister publication, Recommend.
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