Travel demand to Paris is increasing substantially ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will occur in the City of Light from July 26 through August 11.
According to new data collected by Sojern, a travel marketing platform designed to boost growth and profitability for the travel industry, flight bookingsnot just searchesto Paris are up 125 percent for the period of the Olympic Games compared to the same travel period last year.
The city is already hugely popular even without a marquee event like the Games, with the recently-reopened Eiffel Tower hosting 6.3 million visitors alone in 2023.
However, with an average trip length of 11 days compared to 13.2 in 2023, Sojern believes it's clear that the Olympics are driving travel decisions.
The U.S. is driving much of the demand to France this summer, accounting for a whopping 23.8 percent of bookings during the Olympic period in Paris. There's a big drop-off behind the U.S., where top origin countries include Canada (6 percent), the United Kingdom (5.8 percent), Japan (5.4 percent) and Spain (5.2 percent), Sojern found.
The company's data also suggests that many Paris locals are making plans to visit other parts of France during the Olympics, with hotel bookings from Parisians traveling to other parts of the country up 49 percent during the period of the Games compared to 2023.
Destinations such as Lille, Nice, Corsica, Lyon and Toulouse are among the most popular.
It's likely that this summer's Olympics will continue to drive interest in Paris and other parts of France long after they conclude. As Sojern points out, Qatar saw a 79 percent to 255 percent increase in international lodging searches after hosting the 2022 World Cup.
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