Trips to Paris are down because of the Summer Olympics

Are outspoken Parisians telling travelers to “not come” to Paris during the Summer Olympics?

Or are the exorbitant prices for hotel rooms, house rentals and event tickets putting travelers off?

For various reasons, many people – including citizens – avoided Paris in the build-up to the Olympics, despite forecasts that travel was uncertain. Forecasts often focus on the number of people who will come to the Games, while ignoring the number of tourists killed.

It’s a common misconception that host cities are seeing an explosion in travelers around the Olympics, said John Grant, principal analyst at aviation intelligence firm OAG.

“The Olympic phenomenon is that the local market doesn’t travel,” he said. In addition, “ordinary business travelers who normally travel during this period, stop (and) stay at home.”

London, Athens and Atlanta all saw a drop in summer visitors when they hosted the Summer Games, Grant said.

“You never get and give what you want,” he said.

Air France signaled trouble earlier this month, announcing on July 1 that traffic to and from Paris was lagging behind other major European cities. Not only is interest down, but “international markets are showing a significant avoidance of Paris,” the company said.

Likewise, Delta Air Lines also projecting a big hit – up $100 million in revenue – due to the 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.

No one was surprised, Grant said.

Neither airline added much capacity — Air France 5%, and Delta none — compared to last August, he said. However, the loss is related to the price point, he said.

“They keep trying to sell tickets at a higher price than the market is expecting,” he said, adding that the airline eventually offers a discount to make any profit.

In its tourism barometer in June, the Paris tourism board predicted a decline in international air arrivals in all markets in the lead-up to the Olympics – down 8% in June and almost 15% in July, compared to 2023.

The tourism board also expects an 11% increase in arrivals during the Games, driven by visitors from Europe (+24%) and North America (+15%) but offset by a sharp decline in arrivals from the Middle East (-42%) and Oceania (-30%).

Hotels are also feeling the brunt of the Paris summer, with occupancy rates expected to drop to 60% in early July, down about 10 points from 2023, according to the Paris tourism board.

Like airlines, many hotels are raising rates to take advantage of the tourism bump, only to discount after the spring bookings slow.

Still, the average rate rose by almost 70% this July, from 202 euros last year to 342 euros during the Olympics, the Paris tourism board said. Estimates from travel price comparison website Trivago show fares have risen even more, by 85% year-on-year in Paris, and 131% in Lille, which is hosting basketball and handball competitions at the Games.

Airbnb hosts are also cutting their rates — some by more than 50%. A two-bedroom loft near Notre Dame dropped its nightly rate from $1,407 to $683 during the first week of the Games — which is lower than its nightly rate in the fall.

Airbnb says listings in Paris reached an all-time high this summer, as enterprising Parisians jumped at the chance to escape the crowds and cash in on the sports tourist propensity.

Airbnb told CNBC that tens of thousands of people in host cities have opened their homes for the first time. But the company declined to reveal the number of unbooked listings during the Games, instead telling CNBC Travel that: “The Paris Olympics 2024 is set to be the biggest hosting event in Airbnb history, with more guests staying in local homes on our platform than on any event, before.”

Airbnb also said that “domestic interest” in staying during the Games has never been higher than in the weeks leading up to the Paris Games.

Last-minute travelers can still grab tickets to the Paris Games. Of the 10 million tickets sold, 8.95 million have been sold or allocated as of Thursday, the Paris 2024 press office told CNBC.

Still more are available in the booming resale market, where high-priced tickets attract few buyers, according to a Financial Times analysis.

In an era of “sports tourism” and event-focused, experience-led travel, it may be surprising that the pinnacle of global competition – where the world’s top athletes compete in one of the world’s most popular cities – is not. t results in a higher travel bump for its host city.

But not for Grant.

“The Olympics is very broad … it’s not a special event,” he said. “There are tennis gold medals, but not Wimbledon.”

Besides, there are too many events, he said.

“You can’t say that the quality is not good, because it is (but) very common.”

—Zenith Wong CNBC contributed to this report.

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the US broadcast rights holder for all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.