Paris shops, restaurants say Olympics hammering business

PARIS – Shops, restaurants, bars and clubs in Paris are facing an “unprecedented slump in business and footfall”, trade groups said on July 19, blaming in part the “heavy security measures” imposed ahead of the Olympic Games starting on July 26.

“Despite optimistic forecasts, activity has been down since June, many professionals have seen their revenue fall by 30 per cent compared with previous years,” a group of restaurant, hotel, retail and nightspot unions said.

Their businesses are suffering from tourists avoiding the capital, unfavourable weather, inflation, a tense political situation after inconclusive parliamentary elections, and the Olympic security measures, they added.

Combined, the headwinds are producing “disastrous economic consequences”, they said.

The unions urged the authorities to communicate more clearly in particular about the security measures, saying they were unable to plan around them without information. One example was the Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower, where restaurants are “suffering access restrictions that have sent footfall plunging by 70 per cent”, the group said.

Elsewhere, security barriers blighting otherwise picturesque streets are driving prospective customers away, the unions lamented.

“Many small businesses risk shuttering for good,” they said, calling for the government to set up compensation procedures.

“We insist that fair and swift compensation is necessary to make up for the inconvenience and losses suffered because of the Olympic Games.”

On July 18, thousands of French security forces locked down a 6km stretch of central Paris ahead of the hugely complex Olympics opening ceremony next week.

Traffic on surrounding boulevards was noticeably lighter than usual as many drivers stayed away, and locals and tourists found themselves blocked at checkpoints, particularly when trying to cross the river Seine.

In other news, President Emmanuel Macron still plans to swim in the famed river as promised but

“not necessarily” before the Games,

the Elysee presidential office said on July 19.

The French leader has insisted several times that he would dive into the Seine to highlight the possibility of swimming there again thanks to major depollution work, and to reassure people about the quality of the water.

But he never set a date, and did not join Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who both took a dip in the murky waters in the past week.

“He didn’t announce that he was going to swim before the Olympics, he announced that he was going to swim and he has always expressed this certainty,” a spokesperson said.

“He will not necessarily have the opportunity to do so before the Games.”

Earlier on July 19, Paris city hall announced that the Seine had been clean enough to swim in for six of seven days tested between July 10 and 16.

Weather permitting, the river will be the star of the opening ceremony of the Games on July 26 and will then host the triathlon and the swimming marathon. AFP, REUTERS