The French capital brings welcome news to the urban scene as it prepares for the Olympics – and focuses more than ever on the Mice segment
Cafes, croissant, Louvre, Montmartre, Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame. There are many universal icons of tourism in the most visited city in the world. As the famous person says in Casablanca , Paris is always a good idea – including for business. The city of lights is one of the 10 main Mice (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) destinations in Europe, a sector that generates more than 15 billion euros annually in Île-de-France.
Cafes, croissant, Louvre, Montmartre, Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame. There are many universal icons of tourism in the most visited city in the world. As the famous person says in Casablanca , Paris is always a good idea – including for business. The city of lights is one of the 10 main Mice (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) destinations in Europe, a sector that generates more than 15 billion euros annually in Île-de-France.
And this data doesn’t just refer to major events like Roland Garros, Paris Marathon or Paris Fashion Week. From small seminars to large congresses, data from Paris city hall indicate that attendance rates at international events are on average 20% higher when hosted there, compared to other destinations.
It may come as a surprise to many people, but business tourism is already responsible for 50% of all tourist revenue in the French capital. France is the European leader in Mice tourism, with more than 3,500 companies specialized and officially engaged in this sector; Paris alone hosts an average of 80 different events per month.
Investments in business tourism and hotel structures are constant there: the city has properties from most of the world’s brands and hotel chains and recently opened hotels Bulgari, Delano, So/Paris, La Fiermontina, Dame des Arts, La Fantasia and the expected Le Grand Mazarin, the first from the luxurious Maisons Pariente in the French capital.
The expectation is that the 2024 Olympics (which should generate expenditure of 2.6 billion euros, excluding tickets) will contribute to this percentage considerably exceeding the revenue from leisure tourism in the city. “The Olympic and Paralympic Games are a stimulus for us to work on visitors’ expectations and enhance their experiences, whether for work or leisure,” said the press office of the Paris city hall. “We created a document establishing rigorous criteria to facilitate business travel and create event experiences that are always expanded, sustainable and innovative.”
The new phase is having a direct impact on visits from all niches. Tourist revenue in the first months of 2023 increased 21% compared to the same period in 2019, generating expectations for new revenue records in the city until the end of the year – even with several recent cancellations in the local hotel industry due to social conflicts in recent months ( which affected leisure tourism much more than business tourism).
The good news is that the works and improvements developed with an eye on the Olympics are increasing the city’s accessibility on all fronts – leisure, business and also for the residents themselves. The city’s urban restructuring has a clear focus on sustainability: Paris wants to be an international example of a sustainable city and the first free from single-use plastics next year. The Paris 2024 organization also guarantees that it will make the Olympics “the most sustainable in history”, cutting CO2 emissions from the London and Rio games in half.
Of the 6 billion euros foreseen for Olympic costs, the city administration states that it will pay only 370 million, divided over eight years (2018 to 2025) – being responsible for works that could, according to the city hall, “leave a legacy tangible, ecological and concrete” for residents and visitors. A total of 8.5 hectares of new green spaces have already been created in Paris. And the idea is also to transform structures built for games into social spaces, such as housing, university campuses, schools, squares, etc., and finally achieve the long-awaited depollution of part of the River Seine by the end of next year.
The city has been gaining a new structure with a focus on pedestrians and public transport – including new metro lines and stations and also surface trains, which now reach even more points in Greater Paris. Taking advantage of the stimulus for sustainable businesses, the Chinese company Caocao Mobility also took its urban mobility application (with a contribution of 10 million euros) to the city; There are already more than 800 vehicles from the 100% electric or hybrid fleet operating regularly there.
Old tourist attractions were revamped, such as the Hôtel de la Marine and the Musée d’Ennery , reopened for visitors, and the Panthéon, which gained a new tour, which takes you to its dome, with a panoramic view of the city. New restaurants – including Bonnie , HaSalon , the new restaurants of chefs Dani Garcia and Dominique Crenn , and even new cafes from Louis Vuitton and Galeries Lafayette – are adding more flavor with each visit. Apparently, the most desired and visited city in the world is getting even better.
