PARIS — For athletes and audiences, these have been the Olympics when raucous crowds have roared once again following years of lockdown restrictions.
But outside the din of the stadiums, it’s impossible to ignore that Paris is relatively quiet.
The International Olympic Committee promises that hosting the Games “generates powerful economic benefits.” And Paris 2024 has vowed that tourism, hotel and catering sectors “will benefit first and foremost from the influx of visitors.”
This does not appear to have happened.
Business is significantly down for shops, restaurants and cafes, according to trade data and dozens of interviews by NBC News. Taxi drivers sit idle at their ranks, some blaming the Olympics for driving away fares. Major streets and attractions are remarkably calm — and even the “Mona Lisa” is less mobbed than usual.
“Last year, we were completely full inside and out,” said Bérangère Drogue, 38, who works at bistro L’Elephant Du Nil, in the trendy Marais neighborhood. “We were expecting it to be like this during the Olympics but…” she trailed off, gesturing to banks of empty chairs in the cobbled square. “It’s like night and day.”
Nearby, a line of taxis waited unhailed in the parching afternoon heat.
“I have never seen Paris like this,” said Jugurta Chabane, 28, his black suit and tie matching his dark vehicle. “It’s affected my business a lot, I would say by around 70%.”
Not everyone is unhappy, with many Olympic tourists able to experience Paris like never before.
Those hunting for a good cafe terrace table are in luck. Lines for the Eiffel Tower and other attractions are appealingly small. And Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece in the Louvre Museum has rarely attracted such a small gaggle of cellphone-waving art lovers.
“Most of the time, this entire area is full and the line of people stretches out into the other room,” said one gallery attendant, declining to give his name because the museum does not allow him to speak to the media. “But during the Olympics it has been much quieter.”
