PARIS (AP) — Parisian business owners and hotel managers were promised a summer like no other. Millions of tourists would flood the French capital for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, generating huge profits for the region.
With the Games officially over, the time has come to run the numbers. And many in the Paris service industry say they had one of their worst summers ever — notably because of security restrictions around city-center Olympic venues.
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HOLD FOR STY of DIANE JEANTET****FILE-People gather in a street to watch the Olympic cauldron at the Tuileries Garden during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. With the Olympic and Paralympic Games officially over, time has come to run the numbers. And in the service industry, many say reality has far from matched expectations, recording instead one of their worst summers ever. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
FILE - Patrons sit outside a restaurant behind some remaining security barriers on a street along the River Seine, now opened to foot traffic after Friday's opening ceremony at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 27, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Police clear the streets outside the stadium ahead of the men's group D match between Israel and Mali at the Parc des Princes during the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 24, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File )
FILE - Security officers stand at the security perimeter of a closed street at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 21, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - Police officers check authorizations at a checkpoint, July 18, 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Tom Denaive, who runs a jewelry store located between the Louvre Museum and Place de la Concorde — which hosted multiple Olympic events — said the season was nothing short of “dramatic.”
In mid-June, the city closed the nearest metro station, then access to the scenic Tuileries Garden. A week before the opening ceremony on the River Seine, the nearby rue de Rivoli, a major pedestrian and commercial artery, was shut down.
“It was a dead street,” Denaive said. “I felt like we were back to the COVID days.”
Even the Louvre Museum reported a 22% drop in visits during the Olympic Games, and a 45% drop during the two weeks leading up to the opening ceremony compared to the same period a year ago.
Disappointment was also felt steps away on rue Saint-Honoré, home to some of Paris’ most prestigious hotels and haute couture shops.
“I have all the records from last year and we didn’t match a single one,'' said Marina Orlando, store manager at French luxury candle brand Diptyque. Orlando said sales in August were down 29% year on year.
“We were given a whole serenade about the Olympics, that it was going to be incredible. ... Some of us didn’t go on vacation, it was a huge logistical effort so that we could all be present on D-Day,” she said. In the end, she added, they had a store largely empty of customers.
Tourists did come to Paris in large numbers. Government data released last week show that some 1.7 million international visitors came during the Olympic period, up 13% compared with the previous year, and another 1.4 million French tourists visited the capital, up 26%. In addition, the Olympics drew millions more visitors who traveled to Paris for the day.
“I think that our country’s bet has paid off,” Olivia Grégoire, who leads the ministry charged with companies, tourism and consumption, told a news conference last week. Grégoire said France as a whole was on track to maintain — and potentially surpass — last year’s record-breaking tourism numbers.
But shopping was not the visitors' priority, shop owners and managers said. “They were here for the sports,” Orlando said.
Denaive agreed. He said that tourists “spent so much on hotels, flights, tickets ... they didn't have much of a budget left for shopping.”
Many visitors were struggling to get to shops and restaurants even if they wanted to, because Paris chose to host Olympic events in the heart of the capital rather than building an Olympic park outside the city center.
Protecting those venues involved a boosted security apparatus, deploying up to 45,000 police officers backed by a 10,000-strong contingent of soldiers and reinforcements from more than 40 countries.
Most Parisians and visitors welcomed the security measures, but not the metal-fence barriers erected on both sides of the River Seine that made the city hard to navigate.
Only those with a QR code were granted permission to pass police checkpoints, making it nearly impossible for those without one to commute between the city’s south and north, except by metro. Permission for the precious code could take days to obtain.
For Patrick Aboukrat, whose association represents 190 shopkeepers and restaurant owners in Paris’ central Marais neighborhood, the Olympics were “more than catastrophic.” From mid-June to the end of July, sales were down roughly 35% to 40% on average in the area, he said.
Aboukrat, who owns a fashion store, said the ready-to-wear industry was particularly hit, with an unexpectedly bad summer sales period. The city was quiet ahead of the Olympics, he recalled. “We expected to have a stronger activity than usual. We found ourselves with stocks to sell off and a very low cash flow.”
Aboukrat, like many others who talked to The Associated Press, eventually decided to close his store early in the summer. “It was not worth it, and those near me who remained open told me it was empty.”
Something similar happened at the Île de la Cité, the small island in the Seine where Notre Dame Cathedral sits. There, most merchants lost 40% to 50% of their turnover, according to Patrice Lejeune, president of the island's merchants' association.
The area was particularly difficult to reach during most of the Olympics as it was surrounded by security barriers.
Officials have said the restrictions were necessary to guarantee everyone’s safety.
Grégoire, from the tourism ministry, downplayed potential losses, saying that ”we often come across people who complain.”
On June 14, the government announced the creation of a commission to handle financial compensation requests from businesses claiming they were impacted negatively by the Games. Grégoire said it would apply only to those located within the perimeters targeted by security measures. The commission will start assessing requests in January.
Jean-Marc Banquet d’Orx, president of a union representing more than 2,000 hotels, restaurants and cafes in Paris, said everyone will eventually feel the benefits of the investments made in the city ahead of the Games.
“We can’t stop grumpy people,” Banquet d’Orx said. “But to those who complain, I say: The Olympics will have an impact on the years to come, not immediately.”
HOLD FOR STY of DIANE JEANTET****FILE-People gather in a street to watch the Olympic cauldron at the Tuileries Garden during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. With the Olympic and Paralympic Games officially over, time has come to run the numbers. And in the service industry, many say reality has far from matched expectations, recording instead one of their worst summers ever. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
FILE - Patrons sit outside a restaurant behind some remaining security barriers on a street along the River Seine, now opened to foot traffic after Friday's opening ceremony at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 27, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Police clear the streets outside the stadium ahead of the men's group D match between Israel and Mali at the Parc des Princes during the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 24, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File )
FILE - Security officers stand at the security perimeter of a closed street at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 21, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - Police officers check authorizations at a checkpoint, July 18, 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.
Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0. Another pick, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, is also expected to have a swift vote, as soon as Tuesday. Action on others, including former combat veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, is possible later in the week.
“Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, said as the chamber opened.
It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials. During Trump’s first term, the Senate swiftly confirmed his defense and homeland security secretaries on day one, and President Joe Biden’s choice for director of national intelligence was confirmed on his own Inauguration Day.
With Trump’s return to the White House, and his Republican Party controlling majorities in Congress, his outsider Cabinet choices are more clearly falling into place, despite initial skepticism and opposition from both sides of the aisle.
Rubio, who was surrounded by colleagues in the Senate chamber, said afterward he feels “good, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”
“It’s an important job in an important time, and I’m honored by it,” Rubio said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune moved quickly Monday, announcing he expected voting to begin “imminently” on Trump’s nominees.
Democrats have calculated it's better for them to be seen as more willing to work with Trump, rather than simply mounting a blockade to his nominees. They're holding their opposition for some of his other picks who have less support, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said his party will “neither rubber-stamp nominees we feel are grossly unqualified, nor oppose nominees that deserve serious consideration.”
Rubio, he said, is an example of "a qualified nominee we think should be confirmed quickly."
Senate committees have been holding lengthy confirmation hearings on more than a dozen of the Cabinet nominees, with more to come this week. And several panels are expected to meet late Monday to begin voting to advance the nominees to the full Senate for confirmation.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously advanced Rubio's nomination late Monday. The Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee, respectively, voted to move the nominations of Hegseth and Ratcliffe. And the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee advanced nominees Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary and Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, but with opposition.
Rubio, a well-liked senator and former Trump rival during the 2016 presidential race, has drawn closer to the president in recent years. He appeared last week to answer questions before the Foreign Relations Committee, where he has spent more than a decade as a member.
As secretary of state, Rubio would be the nation’s top diplomat, and the first Latino to hold the position. Born in Miami to Cuban immigrants, he has long been involved in foreign affairs, particularly in South America, and has emerged as a hawk on China’s rise.
During his confirmation hearing last week, Rubio warned of the consequences of America’s “unbalanced relationship” with China. While he echoes Trump’s anti-globalist rhetoric, Rubio is also seen as an internationalist who understands the power of U.S. involvement on the global stage.
Rubio cultivated bipartisan support from across the aisle, both Republicans and Democrats. He takes over for outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has said he hopes the Trump administration continues Biden's policies in the Middle East to end the war in Gaza and to help Ukraine counter Russian nomination.
The Senate is split 53-47, but the resignation of Vice President JD Vance and, soon, Rubio drops the GOP majority further until their successors arrive. Republicans need almost all every party member in line to overcome Democratic opposition to nominees.
Objection from any one senator, as is expected with Hegseth and several other choices, would force the Senate into procedural steps that would drag voting later into the week.
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, pose for a photo at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. First row from left, Elise Stefanik, John Ratcliffe, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Howard Lutnick, Pete Hegseth, Doug Burgum, Brooke L. Rollins, Marco Rubio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; second row from left, Scott Turner, Tulsi Gabbard, Sean Duffy, Linda McMahon, Lee Zeldin, Kristi Noem, Chris Wright, Doug Collins, Kelly Loeffler and Scott Bessent; and third row from left, Stephen Miran, Jamieson Greer, Kevin Hassett, Kash Patel and Russell Vought. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a nominee for Secretary of State, attends the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)