Paris Denies Security Issues Hurting 2024 Bid

(ATR) Tourists are returning to Paris in record numbers, allaying security fears many might have over security and safety in the French capital.

Speaking at one of several press briefings in the Paris 2024 media center Sunday, deputy mayor Jean Francois Martins talkedabout how the recovery in tourism since the terrorist attacks of November 2015 showed the city’s strength in dealing with security issues.

Paris is still on high alert, with instances occurring as recently as last month when a police officer was shot dead and two wounded on the Champs Elysees. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Last November, Around the Rings reported how Paris had suffered a significant drop in tourism due to security fears. But, while the IOC are the latest arrivals in Paris, Martins was confident that the increase of tourists in 2017 would be the best advert for the city.

"Since the Christmas holidays of 2016, the tourism went very high and January 2017 was the best January of the last ten years," Martins told reporters.

"So now we have recovered the digits we had before the attacks, and much more we have better forecasts, for example, the flight bookings and accommodation bookings for May, June, July - the best forecasts we have had for the past six years. So we have now recovering regular activity better than we had in 2014.

"Of course, we had an attack but the thing is for eight months we have demonstrated we have made the investment in police and security we needed to do. We had 24 million people who came to Paris last year and these are the best ambassadors.

"They came to Paris, they come back home and they are asked ‘how was Paris?’ They will say ‘It was safe, it was fun, it was fancy, I loved my trip and I will come back’. So this is the best advertisement we need."

Paris 2024 Athletes Talk Security

A number of French athletes were on hand to speak to the press, and three-time Olympic gold medalist Marie-Jose Perec weighed in on the security issue, saying it was a problem for most major cities and not just Paris.

"The safety in Paris - it’s the same in the United States, in London, it’s the same everywhere," Perec said. "Maybe one thing I can say to give people trust that things will be handled great is that we had the Euro [2016 football championship]. We even had the fan zones… and I think everything was great. The people enjoyed themselves, it will be the same for everyone on that aspect."

The briefing also included regional adviser Pierre-Yves Bournazel talking up Paris as having "the best public transport system in the world", in a veiled criticism of Los Angeles’ deficiencies on that front. In fact, almost every other speaker on the day hailed Paris’ transport network.

Meanwhile, the favored Olympic buzzword "legacy" got its fair share of mentions in the other briefings of the day.

Paris 2024 deputy chief executive officer Michael Aloisio was confident in replying to ATR’s query about how the Games could deliver on the bid’s promises.

"We have already launched projects from the start of the candidature phase," Aloisio said. "We have the Olympics week in schools and Paralympics week which takes place in schools around the whole country."

He added: "The plan for swimming in the Seine River… it will start from this summer onwards. So these are just a few things that show that legacy is not just for after the Games, but it starts now."

Marie Barsaq, Paris 2024 Impact and Legacy Director, added in the final briefing that even if Paris lost the bid in September, the youth programs would continue as they are not specifically tied to Paris 2024 but would be taken over by the National Olympic Committee.

Of many films to be broadcast throughout the day, one that garnered specific attention included French football legends Laurent Blanc and Zinedine Zidane, who both recalled memories of when they won the 1998 FIFA World Cup for their country in the Stade de France, the planned centerpiece of 2024.

Zidane, currently the manager of Real Madrid, was then announced as an official ambassador for the bid on social media.

Reported and written by Christian Radnedge in Paris.

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