PARIS (Reuters) – The impact of the Olympic Games in Paris is having a “neutral” effect on traffic at airports serving the French capital, the chief executive of airport operator Groupe ADP said on Thursday.
“What we observe in our Parisian airports is that (…) there are fewer tourists coming to Paris without a connection. On the other hand, there are more connections. Which means that today we have at Charles de Gaulle and Orly almost the same traffic as if there were no Olympic Games,” explained Augustin de Romanet on franceinfo.
“From the beginning, it was planned to be neutral,” the leader added, citing the example of the previous Olympics in Athens in 2004 and London in 2012.
Traffic is in line with the group’s forecasts at the start of the year, with 240,000 passengers per day at Charles de Gaulle and up to 115,000 passengers per day at Orly, says Augustin de Romanet.
In early July, the airline Air France-KLM said it anticipated revenue losses due to significant avoidance of Paris on international markets. It estimated the impact for the period June-August at between 160 million and 180 million euros.
Augustin de Romanet believes, however, that the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games should strengthen the attractiveness of the French capital for tourists.
“The number of tourists expected to come in 2025 will, I think, be very, very high,” he said.
(Written by Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
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