Visa data shows how spending at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is boosting the French economy

• 26 percent year-on-year rise in sales for Paris small businesses during the first weekend of the Olympic Games Paris 2024^[1]
• Significant increase in spending from Visa cardholders in many areas of commerce including restaurants, theatres and museums
• Biggest share of overseas spend comes from U.S. Visa cardholders, with most significant increases in year-on-year spending from Japan and Brazil 

Visa, the Official Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, today releases new data revealing initial consumer spending patterns during the opening weekend of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

A leader in digital payments has identified the positive impact that Paris 2024 is having in boosting commerce in Paris:

• Small businesses in Paris benefitted from 26 percent year-on-year rise in sales from Visa cardholders during the first weekend of the Olympic Games
• Most significant increase in spending levels in Paris were seen in theatres & museums +159 percent, food & grocery + 42 percent, restaurants +36 percent, retail goods +21 percent, entertainment +18 percent
• The largest share of overseas spend comes from U.S. Visa cardholders (29 percent), with significant year-on-year increases from Brazilian (+33 percent) and Japanese (+129 percent) Visa cardholders.
• 78 percent of international purchases in Paris have been contactless, up 9 percent year-on-year
• 39 percent increase in flight bookings to Paris in the lead up to the Games over the same period in 2023^[2]
• Increased travel to Paris by travellers under the age of 35, growing 120 percent year-on-year^[3]
• Travellers to Paris from the U.S increased the most from the previous year (+64 percent), followed by Germany (+61 percent) and Spain (+27 percent)
• Spending is also up significantly in cities hosting Olympic events outside Paris including Saint-Etienne (+214 percent), Lille (+100 percent) and Marseille (+38 percent)

Charlotte Hogg, Chief Executive Officer of Visa Europe, said: “As a sponsor of the Olympic Movement for almost 40 years and the Paralympic Games since 2002, we know first-hand the impact that the Games can have to boost host-country economies, in line with Visa’s purpose to uplift everyone everywhere.  Our latest data shows a significant increase in consumer spending among Visa cardholders during the Opening Ceremony Weekend.

We’re particularly pleased to see the uptick in spending at French small-businesses after we helped 13 million of them digitise over the last 4 years in Europe and connected them to spectators through the Visa Go app.

The increased engagement of younger generations, which we see in the travel data, is also an exciting finding and shows the reach and relevance of the Games today and into the future.”

Visa’s responsibility to provide payment systems for the Olympic and Paralympic Games requires a robust and venue-specific plan combined with large-scale operations. Working hand-in-hand with the Organising Committee for the last three years, Visa has built a custom payment network across Paris and beyond, which ensures Visa contactless payments are accepted at 3,500 points of sale across 32 Olympic venues and 16 Paralympic venues.

Image courtesy of Pexels. Photo credit: Chris Molloy.

^[1] Figures compare the weekends 28/29/30 July 2023 and 26/27/28 July 2024

² Figures include flights to Paris between 2024-07-19 and 2024-08-11 (compared to the previous year) and at least 45 days lead time

³ US Visa Cardholders