The affordability of next year's Olympic Games in Paris was again under the spotlight after a consumers' group highlighted average prices of 1,000 euros in hotels near the route of the opening ceremony in July.
Olympic bosses have prided themselves on the inclusivity of staging the event along the river Seine.
Around 500,000 people are expected to line its banks during the first opening ceremony to take place outside the main stadium, as a flotilla of vessels ferry athletes along the water past world-renowned monuments from the Pont d'Austerlitz in the east to the Place du Trocadero.
Consumer champions UFC-Que Choisir compared the prices, 15 days apart, of 80 three- and four-star hotels close to the six-kilometre route.
They discovered that 1,033 euros was the average price charged for the night of 26-27 July 2024, compared with €317 for the night of 12-13 July – an increase of 226 percent.
Of the hotels surveyed, only half said they still had rooms available for the opening ceremony, although UFC-Que Choisir was unable to say whether the other hotels were already fully booked or whether they were keeping rooms in stock.
Too pricey?
In addition to their rates, hoteliers have also been criticised for having tightened up their booking conditions.
The association said 24 of the hotels wanted guests to book at least two nights. The magazine pointed out some hotels were demanding five-night reservations.
The study published just under seven months from the start of the Games comes just over a week after World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe – who headed the London 2012 organisers – warned of the high prices at the Stade de France.
The former Olympic gold medallist said the Paris organisers risked empty patches in venues if tickets prices remained too high for the estimated 16 million visitors to the Olympics and the Paralympics.
Tony Estanguet, chief of the Paris organising committee, hit back at Coe's comments.
The Olympic gold-winning canoeist said their cheapest and most expensive Games tickets – 24 and 990 euros – both cost less than at London 2012 once inflation and exchange rates were taken into account.
"In London the price was £20, which, with inflation, works out at around 27 euros," said Estanguet. "The maximum price was £725, which with inflation works out at just over 1,000 euros today.
"These prices are therefore slightly higher than those charged by Paris 2024. That was 12 years ago, so I think our prices are within the norm for such an exceptional experience.
"We're delighted with the approach we've taken to make the event accessible to as many people as possible.
"We're talking about more than four million tickets for the Olympic Games at 50 euros or less and then we offer these higher prices, which take longer to sell but which help to balance the budget of Paris 2024."
Image implications
However, the perception is ossifying that France's Olympic supremos and the owners of the infrastructure around the games are intent on exploiting fans.
A survey carried out in September by the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau found that the average price of a one-night stay in the Ile-de-France – the area immediately outside Paris's 20 arrondissements – has risen from 169 euros n July 2023 to 699 euros during the Games.
In December, Olivia Grégoire, the minister delegate for tourism, announced anti-fraud officers would step up checks in 10,000 hotels and restaurants between now and the Olympics, to ensure that visitors get value for money.
Higher hotel prices is an obvious economic offshoot of major cultural or sporting events.
UFC-Que Choisir hit out at hotel prices during the European Football Championship in 2016 and the 1998 Football World Cup in France.
"However, the increases were more reasonable," the magazine said.
Transport costs
But the latest revelations will do little to enhance the country's reputation in the prelude to the Games. During the Rugby Union World Cup in September and October, health chiefs were forced to deal with an outbreak of botulism in Bordeaux which left one visitor dead and 15 others ill.
They also had to allay fears over infestations of bed bugs in schools and on public transport.
Last month, Paris transport chiefs announced that metro ticket prices will almost double during the Games. However, residents with monthly travel cards will be unaffected.
"During the Olympics and the Paralympics, the Ile-de-France region will dramatically increase its transport offer," said the region's president Valérie Pécresse.
"It is out of the question that the residents support that cost."
Visitors will be able to purchase a Paris 2024 pass that will allow travel through the whole Ile-de-France region for 16 euros a day, and up to 70 euros a week.
"It is the fair price," Pécresse said.
Single metro tickets around Paris will rise from 2.10 euros to 4 euros from 20 July – six days before the start of the Olympics until 8 September – the end of the Paralympic Games.
