The stakes are high. As a reminder, business travellers account for almost half - 46 % to be exact - of overnight stays in Paris hotels. Depending on the estimate, business tourism generates between €3 and €3.5 billion in direct economic benefits for the Paris Region. According to the same report, this windfall could be threatened by a shortage of rooms. The report also points out that "There can be no creation of new convention facilities without an increase in the hotel offer, especially as competition with other destinations that are highly adapted in terms of hosting is growing".Barcelona being cited as an example.
To avert the danger, the report recommends the construction of "7,000 rooms on city land, 7,000 through the conversion of offices and a further 7,000 in the suburbs".. Following on from these recommendations, the Paris City Council has launched a Hotel Plan aimed specifically at creating on its available spaces "7,000 additional rooms by 2020".. A map has even been published to enable investors to visually locate the sites concerned and the hotel developments seeking financing. These are mainly located to the north and east of the Paris ring road, but a number of major projects are planned within the city itself, including three major projects in the Paris Rive Gauche area, in the 13th arrondissement.
In the same document, the City of Paris has set itself the objective, through this Hotel Plan, of "offer operators now, and on a regular basis in the years to come, rights of way to build tourist accommodation to market standards, on municipal land and in major development areas".. Priority is also given to hotel programmes "in up-and-coming neighbourhoods with high economic potential".. At the last count, Paris had 1,472 classified establishments. "tourism and 76,622 rooms, for a total of 36 million overnight stays a year.
Hotel customers in Paris
It should also be noted that in 2010, the Paris hotel industry recorded 14.4 million arrivals (+5.4 %), 53.5 % of which were foreign and 46.5 % French. Source: Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau
