Banque de France Bulletin

The impact of the Paris Olympics on third-quarter 2024 economic activity and payments

Published on the 3rd of December 2024
Authors : Sarita de Albuquerque, Edouard Jousselin, Aldo Penalva, Edith Stojanovic, Alexis Heulin, Julien Lasalle, De Pastor Raymond, Pierre Berger

Bulletin No. 255, article 2. The overall impact on the French economy of staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris during the summer of 2024 was positive, contrary to certain misgivings that were mentioned beforehand. GDP growth in the third quarter of the year was boosted by an estimated 1/4 percentage point, thanks to sales of tickets and broadcasting rights in particular. However, the impact was transitory and – excluding any subsequent windfalls – limited to the third quarter.

With regard to payments, cash withdrawals recorded in Paris were higher than usual due to the arrival of large numbers of foreign tourists. However, the transactions remained relatively limited and did not pose any problems for cash industry players. Overall, against a backdrop of considerable visitor numbers, the Banque de France was able to put in place a specific organisational framework capable of averting any crisis situation.
 

Image BDF255_2_JO_EN
Non-resident visitors to mainland France between May and August: difference between 2024 and 2023

1 The impact of the Olympic Games on economic activity: a demonstrable boost in the third quarter

The organisation of major events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG) has an impact on a country’s economic activity over several years, particularly in the lead-up to the event and during the competition. This paper focuses on France’s economic activity during
the Games.

The Olympic Games drove a temporary boost in activity during the third quarter

The Olympic Games began in an economic context of modest growth in activity for the past several quarters (INSEE, 2024a), and severe uncertainty following the dissolution of the National Assembly on 9 June 2024 (Banque de France, 2024a). In the monthly business surveys carried out by the Banque de France in the lead-up to the event, business leaders mentioned misgivings that the Olympic Games would have a negative impact on their activity. However, their concerns appear to have been overstated (see Box 1), and it appears that only the construction sector experienced a temporary slowdown in activity. The same surveys concluded that the net effect on the French economy was positive, with three regions benefiting most from the upturn in activity: Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

The impact of the Paris Games in the third quarter of 2024 was positive and is estimated at around 1/4 percentage point of GDP at national level

While the period leading up to the Olympics is impacted by infrastructure developments and upfront organizational expenditure and the post-Games period is boosted by legacy and reputational effects, the Games period itself is the focus of revenues from ticket sales, tourist inflows and coverage of the events. The impact on quarterly growth is transitory and followed by a backlash in the following quarter.

The main impact of the Paris Games was generated by sales of tickets and broadcasting rights

More than 12 million tickets were sold for the Paris Games, breaking the attendance record for the Olympics previously held by London in 2012. Ticket sales therefore had the greatest impact, contributing to a 3.7% increase in the value added of household services accounted for at the time of the events and recorded in INSEE’s quarterly accounts for third-quarter 2024 (INSEE, 2024b). This represents 0.15 percentage point of quarterly GDP growth. The second most significant impact was from the sale of television rights to broadcast the event. …

Updated on the 17th of January 2025