What impact will the Olympic Games have on B2B events and office life? Recently Coach Omnium, as part of its annual study on MICE trends in Franceestimated that more than a third of companies would see their MICE business on a downward trend because of this global event. And this is true across the board in 2024, and across all sectors, from banks to consultancies and associations, from large companies to SMEs.
While 41% of companies expect business to remain stable despite the influx of tourists to Paris at the height of the summer, and also at the start of the new academic year in September with the end of the Paralympic Games, other companies will be on deck during the Olympic period. Media, communications, tourism, transport, agri-food: just over a tenth of the companies surveyed (12%) should see an increase in meetings and events. " All Sodexo MICE venues will be available in JO format during the Games to host events for companies, sponsors, media, partners, etc.said Eric Chauvet, Sales and Marketing Director of Sodexo Live. This initiative will generate new one-off business during the summer, a period that is generally not very favourable for MICE." .
Once the flame has been extinguished, a return to near normality is expected. According to Coach Omnium, Paris will remain an attractive destination overall for meetings and events in the second half of the year for more than the majority of companies surveyed (61%). However, a significant number of them (28 %) will still turn their backs on the capital, notably for fear of continuing high transport and hotel prices.
Another survey, carried out in March by Interface Tourism Interface among tourism professionals, highlights the impact of the Olympics on both B2B events and the organisation of work. While 35% of professionals in the Paris region will not want to take part in B2B events if they are organised during the Games, one professional in five plans to take part during this period. The rest are divided between the 12% who are undecided and those who will decide (33%) depending on the interest of the event in question.
The prospect of overcrowded transport and congested streets, along with other hassles such as QR codes and checks, is also prompting many tourism professionals to think twice about commuting. So 21% of them are planning to teleworking during the Games period. However, there is no precise framework, since according to 63% of those questioned, their company has not yet made any arrangements for working during this period.
This is in line with a wider survey carried out by Opinion Way for Alight involving over a thousand employees throughout France. Of these, only 24% had received specific instructions from their company to organise their working time differently during the period. A majority (52%) found it logical for companies to impose teleworking or time off during this period.
Nearly half (47%) of the employees in the Paris region and in the cities hosting the events plan to ask their company to telework entirely during the Olympic (26 July to 11 August) and Paralympic (28 August to 8 September) Games. Nearly seven out of ten employees in the Paris region (69%) even say they "dread" this period.. For those who will not be taking their holidays during the fortnight of sporting events, more than half of employees, particularly in large companies, are planning to telework in the region or abroad. As for professionals from outside the Paris region, more than three quarters will avoid Paris and the cities involved in the events during the period. The vast majority (80%) will also be feeling sorry for their colleagues.
Full teleworking, staggered working hours, paid holidays timed to coincide with the Olympic Games: the French government has already made its choice by setting an example. Civil servants will be able to telework an extra ten days in 2024 because of the Olympic Games. The hope is that this will have a knock-on effect on the private sector, where the motto is being spread far and wide: "To save time during the Games, the most important thing is to telework!
And what if this message was heard beyond all expectations? The example of the London 2012 Olympics could be enlightening. Neither the mayor at the time, Boris Johnson, nor the British government spared any effort in the run-up to the event to send out a very clear message: "Avoid London". Even before telecommuting became the norm, Londoners were encouraged to stay at home in front of their computers. Before Prime Minister David Cameron backed down in an interview with Sky News at the beginning of August: " London is open for business. Come back to the capital, come and do your shopping, come and eat in the restaurants and let's make sure that the whole London economy benefits." . A plea when, outside the Olympic Park, restaurants, shops and theatres were ringing hollow, with no traffic jams or overcrowded transport. Better safe than sorry.
