The Minister for Tourism Olivia Grégoire, visiting New York, wanted to “reassure” American tourism professionals before the Paris 2024 Olympics in the face of security risks in a city which will welcome 15 million visitors. In a tense international context, from wars in Ukraine and Gaza to threats of attacks in France and Europe, Olivia Grégoire admitted to AFP on Friday evening that she had been dispatched to the American economic and cultural megalopolis to “reassure about the preparation and security deployed during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“We have been preparing for these Games for seven years with a maximum level of risk, so that we are ready (faced) for all imaginable cases,” argued the Minister of Tourism. After an attack in Moscow claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on March 24 to “raise” the Vigipirate plan to its highest “emergency attack” level.
“45,000 gendarmes and police officers”
His Minister of Tourism reminded his American interlocutors in the tourism and travel sectors that for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, “45,000 gendarmes and police officers, plus 18,000 ‘Sentinelle’ soldiers, plus 18,000 recruitments in private security” will be mobilized. The number of gendarmes and police officers will fall to 35,000 during the Games.
“We have also activated 700 brigades for Paris and Île-de-France which throughout the Games will ensure security in and around” sports sites, explained Olivia Grégoire. She was delighted that Americans were the first to return to France as soon as the borders reopened in 2022 after the Covid pandemic, with five million arrivals from the United States that year. This was confirmed in 2023 and the first quarter of this year.
“All competition areas are accessible by bike”
Air arrivals in France from many American cities are up 45% for the Games period and of the 2.2 million tickets purchased abroad, 16% were by Americans, second international clientele after the British”, according to Olivia Grégoire. And the tourism revenue generated by Americans in 2023 represented 6.2 billion euros, or 10% of international tourism revenue in France, the world’s leading destination with more than 100 million visitors per year.
Olivia Grégoire finally assured that she had responded to the “concerns” of Americans about “mobility” and travel: “all competition areas are all accessible by bike; we have built and consolidated 415 km of cycle paths in Paris and in Île-de-France” and improved public and taxi transport.