Restaurateurs in Paris face plummeting visitor numbers ahead of the Olympics
Restaurants in the center of Paris faced a sharp drop in the number of visitors due to the fact that the entire center was blocked for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, cafe owners told journalists.
The entire central part of the city – the embankments of the Seine and nearby streets – has been fenced off with metal fences for a week. The entrance to this zone is made by QR codes, which, as the Parisians themselves claim, the majority of citizens have never understood how to get. The restrictions have been introduced for the sake of the unique, according to the idea of the authorities, opening ceremony of the Olympics on the river, which will be held in the evening of July 26.
“We don’t understand what’s going on. Probably, this ceremony will be very beautiful, but why was it necessary to hold it on the Seine, and not like all other states? Now there are no Parisians or tourists here, no one can pass through. We can no longer buy groceries, we have to carry everything ourselves, because you can’t drive anywhere, you can’t order delivery, even though we asked to make an exception for it,” said Marielle, a restaurant owner on the Isle of Cité.
The terrace of her café is empty at lunchtime, when it is usually difficult to find a free table in Paris.
“Customers can’t reach us, they don’t know which side to come through. We’re like a cage here, you see? Even our regular customers can’t come, tourists don’t know how either, so it’s really a disaster,” she added.
The owner of Reno’s Diner also complained about the drop in profits due to the Olympics.
“At this time the restaurant should be full of people, and we have no one. And there are a lot less tourists, on the contrary! And I think that for many reasons: everything has become much more expensive because of the Games, nobody understands anything with these QR codes, even some policemen. It is very good to think up something like this from above, but it is necessary to be able to apply it in practice, and our authorities are not able to do it, – he stated.
According to him, the authorities promised merchants a “holiday” because of the influx of people, but in the end the city center was completely deserted.
“It should have been profitable for us, as we are located in the very center. We were told that there would be a lot of people, that it would be a real holiday. But for the last three weeks, and especially the last week, we can no longer move around the city. People have completely left the center of Paris, not a single person is here anymore,” he complained.
In Paris from July 15, restrictions on transport and pedestrian traffic in the city center came into force in anticipation of the opening ceremony of the Olympics-2024. Two zones have been introduced in the city: “gray” or SILT (abbreviation meaning “internal security and fight against terrorism”), the entrance to which is possible only by QR code, issued only to local residents. The passage of vehicles in this zone is completely prohibited. There is also a “red” zone, where the passage of cars, except for the specialized transport, is forbidden.
The city has installed more than 40 thousand metal barriers, blocking the embankments and nearby streets.
Most of the restrictions are in effect from July 18 until the opening ceremony of the games on July 26.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11, the Paralympics – from August 28 to September 8.
2,188 total views, 4 views today
