The roar of the crowd might sound more like a whimper at certain Olympic events this year.
Driving the news: The Paris Olympics are contending with a surplus of unsold seats. Over 270,000 listings are for sale on its official resale site, up from ~180,000 a month ago, per the Financial Times. There are also hundreds of thousands of primary market tix still available.
- Fans who initially bought tickets firsthand had to buy them in blocks of three and resell any they didn’t want. Now, many buyers are left with seats they can’t offload.
Why it matters: The ticket-selling troubles are another sign that the Paris Olympics could be a financial flop for the city. As locals flee and would-be tourists balk at the crowds, Paris’s famous luxury stores are projecting a sales slump and Air France is poised to lose money.
- Paris hotels were only ~80% full last week, according to CoStar, compared to the nearly 90% occupancy rate in London in 2012 or the 94% rate in Rio in 2016.
By the numbers: Luxury travel agency Black Tomato has seen bookings to Paris drop 15% compared to last summer as jet setters avoid the capital in favour of Nice or the Provence region.—QH