Paris ‘Olympic Tax’ Will See Tourists Paying 143% More In 2024

The 2024 Olympics and Paralympics will be hosted in Paris this summer. Though the world eagerly awaits the return of the games after the 2020 pandemic forced the Tokyo games to have strict rules regarding attending, the Paris 2024 are already swirling in controversy.

With price increases already announced across accommodation, travel, attractions, and taxes for the summer while the Olympics take place, our money experts at MoneyTransfers.com have calculated that tourists could be paying up to a staggering 143% more than they would on a typical holiday to the French capital.

Here, we’ve deep-dived into the shocking price increases across a number of tourist-related costs in Paris and just how much more tourists are predicted to have to pay.

"The Olympic Games will inevitably increase overall demand for trips to Paris in July and August this year. However, with the cost of an average trip more than doubling, tourists may want to consider visiting an alternative European city this summer instead."

Luke Eales, MoneyTransfers.com

Tourists Could Pay As Much as 143% More in Paris in 2024 Due To Olympics

We analysed the price of accommodation, transport, tourist taxes, and attractions in Paris in 2023 and 2022 to give us a baseline of the costs and the natural inflation of the price of these necessities when visiting Paris.

We then calculated the estimated 2024 cost of these necessities if the Olympics were not taking place and the predicted overall cost to tourists with the Olympics taking place. The total increase between the two costs was a staggering 143% - with tourists expected to pay an average of £625.55 (730 EUR) for necessities due to the Olympics, compared to the £290.69 (339 EUR) they might expect to pay in an ordinary July in Paris for the same necessities.

With many tourists using travel money cards to make international travel an easier experience, this research shows that they’ll need a far bigger budget than perhaps first anticipated.

These costs take into account the average price of:

• One night’s accommodation in a standard double room in Paris

• The Paris tourist tax

• The cost of a metro ticket

• Entry into one of Paris’s biggest tourist attractions (the Louvre)

Accommodation Costs Projected To Triple

Accommodation costs are one of the most common expenses to rise when a popular city hosts something as internationally popular as the Olympics.

According to this hotel price index, the average cost of a standard double room in July 2023 in Paris was £237.11 (270 EUR). This was a 12.6% increase from the previous year, meaning we could predict the average hotel room price in 2024 to be somewhere around £266.98 (311 EUR) following the same line of inflation.

However, in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, hotel costs tripled due to increased demand during the games. If the Paris games follow the same trend, tourists will be looking at an average cost of £590.40 (689.73 EUR) per night.

Paris Tourist Tax Jumps By 200%

In 2023, the Paris tourist tax stood between £0.21 and £4.28 (0.25 - 5 EUR) depending on the standard of accommodation you are staying in. In the summer of 2024, however, it has been officially announced that the tourist tax has increased by a staggering 200%, to a maximum of £12.80 (14.95 EUR).

Hoteliers have heavily criticised the price hike, fearing the blow back will be on them rather than on the government body leading the decision.

Metro Tickets Almost Double for 2024 Olympics

Another price increase that has been heavily criticised is the price of a metro ticket, which will almost double from £1.80 (2.10 EUR) in 2023 to £3.42 (4 EUR) this summer.

Many critics of this move have compared the situation to the 2012 Olympics hosted in London, in which ticket holders were entitled to a free ‘Games Travelcard’ which was valid for use on public transport in London zones 1-9 on the day of the event.

Louvre Tickets Jump By 30%

The Louvre, home to the Mona Lisa, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris and is no doubt preparing for an influx of tourists who are visiting the city for the Olympic games this summer.

The attraction raised their ticket prices by a whopping 30% for 2024’s summer - and while some may argue that it’s a coincidence, others say it’s clear that the first rise in ticket prices in seven years was a strategic decision just before tourism spikes in Paris.

Formerly, visitors to the Louvre could expect to pay £14.55 (17 EUR). Now, they’ll pay £18.83 (22 EUR).

Full Costs Breakdown

Methodology

The price rises for metro tickets, tourist tax, and Louvre tickets have already been announced ahead of the 2024 Olympic games in Paris, so this was readily available public data to include into our analysis.

In order to get our forecast of what prices might be in Paris in 2024 had the Olympics been taking place somewhere else, we calculated the price rise for each necessity between 2022 and 2023, and estimated the new price based on that same level of inflation.

For the accommodation figures, we used the Trivago hotel price index to find the average cost of a room in Paris in July 2022 and July 2023. We then found out the average amount by which accommodation costs increased in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (sourced from an article in the Daily Mail), and used that data to form the foundation of our prediction. We discounted the 2020 Olympics due to the exceptional circumstances of the games within the COVID-19 pandemic.