Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Phryge, Paralympics mascot, at the Trocadero—tourists have picked up the merchandise in their ...
[+] masses AFP via Getty Images As the closing ceremony of Paris' Olympics ended, France celebrated more than just fifth place on the global podium and a Games that has passed without any terrorism scares. The verdict across many pundits, tourists, and spectators is that the city of Paris has been the real winner, and the statistics are proving true—for the number of visitors, the economic boost to businesses, and even sales of the merchandise that was much derided but is now very cool. Paris Olympics—Tourist Figures Are Up While detractors argue that the economic cost of hosting the Games is not worth the results, it will take years to determine if the poorest districts in France that hosted many of the events over the past two weeks will see long-term prosperity.
Short-term figures are much easier to gauge, and the Bank of France announced Friday that it expects that the Games will boost the French economy by 0.25 points in the third quarter, some comfort to French businesses after the recent turmoil of the French and European elections. This chimes with reports from the French Minister for Tourism, Olivia Gregoire, who predicts growth by 0.
3 points, mostly from ticket and TV rights sales, and tourism. Reuters reports that the City of Lights has seen a 25% increase in people visiting the museums and spending money i.