Travel demand to foreign destinations increases 12% during Olympic Games

BARCELONA, SPAIN – Paris will be one of the summer travel hotspots in 2024 due to the Olympic Games 2024, an event that is boosting travel demand to international destinations from Paris airports, growing close to 12% on average compared to the same weeks last year. This is the key takeaway of “Escaping the Olympics crowds: travel trends from Paris to the world”, a report conducted by the global travel intelligence platform, Mabrian, and The Data Appeal Company (part of Almawave Group), focused on the international destinations that will benefit from this demand surge coming from the French capital.

To unveil trends on travel demand during the three-week period analysed (between July 22nd and August 12th, 2024, when the main Olympic event will take place), a cross-analysis* was carried out. The resulting insight combines air demand, based on flights searches and air capacity (seats in one-way direct flights, for three months in advance searches, up to July 16th, 2024), with cyclical summer demand trends.

As Carlos Cendra, Partner and Director of Marketing and Communications at Mabrian, points out: “Italy and the United States will be the most benefited countries by this demand surge, facilitated by the combination of increased seats availability from and to Paris, thanks to the Olympic Games, and the demand growth to travel abroad from Paris this year”.

During the Olympic Games, air capacity from Paris to the United States increases over +9% when compared to the same period in 2023, and destinations such as New York, Los Angeles or Miami see a strong demand increase during the games’ weeks; similar to Italian cities such as Milan, Rome, and Venice.

Olympics crowds, in figures

In a year when Paris expects, according to recent forecasts from the French government, 11.3 million visitors only during the Olympic Games 2024 (26 July to 11 August), and another 4 million during the Paralympic Games 2024 (28 August to 8 September), domestic and international travel alternatives grow, to leave behind a city that might multiply by five its population density.

To dimension the impact of the expected number of visitors to the French capital city, and according to the Statistics Board of France (Insee), around 2.1 million people populate Ville de Paris, the centre of the Île-de-France region, known as Paris Region, where 12.4 million people are estimated to live. The vast majority of visitors that will travel to Paris during this major sports event will come from other French regions (86.7% as per official forecasts), and around 1.5 million will be foreign travellers, mainly from the United Kingdom, United States, and Germany.

“Demand to Paris during the Olympics has been consistently strong since last February, and there is no doubt the city will be crowded during the coming weeks”, indicates Mirko Lalli, CEO & Founder of The Data Appeal Company. “Accommodation rates behaviour show that, even though prices had to adjust to ensure occupancy, they are +50% more expensive than the same period in 2023, OTA saturation is 30% higher and lodging is close to be sold out for the games’ inauguration night”. 

All-time favourites and distant destinations: where travellers are heading to

As per Mabrian insight on flights searches, choices for foreign travel differ when compared to the same weeks in 2023, as long-haul gains strength, whereas demand to traditional summer destinations have a more uneven behaviour.

Overall, connectivity from Paris to the United States (+9.3%), Morocco and United Kingdom (+13% both) shows significant growth, and other traditional summer destinations for French travellers, such as Spain (+7%) or Greece (+2.5%) moderately increase.

The United States and Italy are the most demanded getaways for this period. In the case of the American destinations, Los Angeles (+80% compared to the same weeks in 2023), Miami (+74%), and New York (+42%), are the most desirable destinations to travel from Paris to the US. As per Italy, demand increases to Milan (double the same period last year), Rome (+53% more), and Venice (+46%). According to Lalli, the reputation and perception of French travellers towards Italian destinations reflect this enthusiasm boosting travel demand: “Milan, Rome, and Venice are major air hubs, with inherent charm, major cultural milestones and launchpads for broader Italian adventures”, that is why The Data Appeal Company’s Sentiment Scores from French travellers for the three of them are quite high, 84 for Venice, 82 for Rome, and 80 for Milan (out of 100 possible).

During the Olympics weeks, demand rises also to all-time favourite city getaways such as London (+22% year over year), Barcelona (+19% year over year), and Athens; as well as to key summer medium and long-haul destinations such as Istanbul (+71% year over year), Tokyo (+45%), or Bangkok (+30%). Other destinations that see a surge in demand for the Olympic weeks are Canada, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates, in particular Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Conversely, demand to Portugal slightly diminishes when compared to the same period in 2023. Portugal, among the top three summer choices, also sees reductions in air capacity from Paris airports during the weeks analysed, loosing -7.4% seats compared to the same period last year, mainly as the result of seats reductions in flights connecting Lisbon and Porto.

* Sources: Mabrian travel intelligence (via social listening), world air capacity and flight searches, and analysis of 100 million Booking.com reviews. D/AI Destinations – The Data Appeal Company-Almawave Group: Sentiment Score; overall digital traces from more than 130 online sources.

The article Travel demand to foreign destinations increases 12% during Olympic Games first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.