UEFA EURO 2016: Paris draws up a very positive report and is pleased to announce "long-term benefits"

For a month, Paris lived at the pace of UEFA EURO 2016. This exceptional sportive tournament – the third most followed in the world – represented a true challenge for Paris after a year 2015 marked by violent attacks. A few days before the tournament, everyone was still concerned by the Seine’s most important rise in thirty years, and then by the social conflict against the Loi Travail ("Labour law") which especially resulted in household waste recycling centres blockade.

Overcoming this particularly complex context, "Paris perfectly took up the challenge" considered Jean-François Martins, Deputy Mayor of Paris for Sport and Tourism on Tuesday. "Parisians showed a strong resilience spirit. We not only demonstrated our ability to welcome this amazing event, but also to make it festive and popular without major incidents" he highlighted during a first report to the media.

Record frequentation at the Eiffel Tower Fan Zone

At the heart of Paris’ measures: the Eiffel Tower Fan Zone. The city councillor reported: "It welcomed 1,216,000 visitors during the whole tournament, including 70% of French and 30% of foreigners. It exceeds our most optimistic expectations. It is superior to the total number of spectators who came to the Stade de France and to the Parc des Princes to attend the games".

Moreover, the Fan Zone experience proved to be very positive: a survey of the general public shows a 92% satisfaction rate, without noteworthy gap between age groups or nationalities. The filtering and palpation measures proved to be very efficient, as well as the alcohol related risks prevention since no arrest was needed inside the perimeter, there was no serious injuries and even no ethylic coma.

In the immediate vicinity of the Fan Zone, the report is positive too: no damaged shops, no public disorder on the exception of troublemakers under the Eiffel Tower on the final evening who were quickly repelled and controlled by the police.

Jean-François Martins, who lengthily paid tribute to the police’s, the emergency services’ and the cleaning services’ work, added that "considering the number of people welcomed and the risks inherent to any major international event leading very different publics to meet, those figures are exceptional."

The 400,000 beneficiaries of an accompanying programme

The accompanying programme implemented by the City of Paris resulted in the organisation of 84 events in various arrondissements, including 14 artistic installations. More than 400,000 benefited from it, including 100,000 for the Place de l’Europe only – that gathered 22 European countries on the City Hall’s forecourt– or even 60,000 for the 10 stages of the Paris Sport Parc. 2,000 young people from Paris’ working class areas were also invited to attend a game at the Parc des Princes.

It was made possible thanks to 450 Parisians volunteers who came to help the City’s agents. "They are a part of the UEFA EURO 2016 heritage. By participating to the smooth running of the event, they developed a taste for citizen involvement. Their involvement into local life will durably influence their relatives and constitutes a resistant foundation for the hosting of future great events" considers Jean-François Martins.

In addition, Paris drastically limited the environmental impact of the tournament. The Deputy Major points out that "We are the first event organiser in France to receive the ISO 20121 certification which is the most demanding in the world about environment preservation". More than 160 actions were directed to do so: from the eco-design of the modular structures to the sorting and recycling of the 132 tons of waste collected in the Fan Zone.

Long-term touristic repercussions

For the first time, Paris got back a touristic frequentation level equivalent to what it was before last November’s attacks. "June 2016’s number of visitors even should be superior by 1 to 2% to June 2015’s" considered Jean-François Martins. The rise is obviously stronger for European visitors: "this is very good news because they represent close markets. Some of them may not be very used to Paris, but they can go there very quickly with low-cost travels, and therefore they are likely to visit again" he added.

The City of Paris expects long-term repercussions. "We gave an incredible image of our city to the whole world. On its own, the Eiffel Tower Fan Zone welcomed more than 3,100 journalists who shot about 6,000 reports broadcasted to 100 million viewers in more than 100 different countries", commented Jean-François Martins.

The Eiffel Tower lightning package put in place with the French operator Orange was relayed by most television channels and mobilised more than 9 million supporters on the Internet. As for the City of Paris’ posts on the social networks, they totalled more than 17 million views, including 1,5 million for the only viral video showing a young woman sharing her Eiffel Tower with foreign visitors.

This enthusiasm for Paris is already quantifiable when analysing the research statistics on Google. Indeed, the use of the keyword "visit Paris" in different languages increased by 6% in June, therefore reaching its highest level in two years. "This indicator shows that UEFA EURO 2016 will have a positive effect on hotel bookings all 2016 long and even beyond", concluded Jean-François Martins.

For more information, please contact:

Barbara Atlan

presse@paris.fr

+33 1 42 76 49 61

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