The Paris Tourism and Congress Office considers that between June and August the Paris region received between 3.6 and 4.7 million tourists, figures far from the 10.2 million in 2019, the reference year before the covid -19.
“We lack customers who come from far away (such as Asia and South America) so the impact is important”, explains to AFP Didier Arino, director of the specialized consultancy Protourisme.
Paris “has the lowest occupancy rate (of hotels) in the entire country,” says Arino. “Hotels lost 60% of their business volume and more than half their overnight stays.”
A fall also noted by Romain Jouhaud, director of “4 roues sous 1 parapluie”, a company that offers guided tours of the capital in the mythical Citroën 2 horses (2CV), whose clientele were mainly Americans and Australians.
In precovid times, it made 360 outings in summer, which were only 120 this year.
“We try to target a French client but the problem is that our average rate (150 euros) is a bit expensive, the French spend less“than foreigners, he explains.
The tourist boats that cross the Seine also had to reinvent themselves, having losses of 50% compared to 2019. Historically, the French represented half of the customers; this year they became 65%.
“And of them, 43% reside in the Paris region”, explains Marie Bozzonie, director of one of these companies, Les Vedettes de Paris. For this reason, on their ships they no longer broadcast explanations in several languages over the loudspeakers, but let them be the tour guides.