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Paris 2024 : A springboard for the local economy of Marseille

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are taking place in France. With more than 6.8 million tickets sold, this event promises to be incredible. This event will start in Marseille. And yet, the economic issues of the city of Marseille are important. On May 9, 2024, the Olympic Torch Relay of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will begin its French trip to Marseille, host of the sailing and football events. After being lit in Greece in the ancient site of Olympia, the Olympic flame will join Marseille by the sea, aboard the Belem, the oldest three-mast in Europe. It will cross 14 counties before arriving in Paris during the Opening Ceremony. The sporting events will take place between from July 26th to August 11th, 2024 with 19 days of competition.

Marseille will host the sailing events from 28th July to 8th August 2024: solo dinghy, windsurfing, IQ Foil. Marseille will host football matches at the Stade Vélodrome, France’s second largest stadium. Marseille football tournaments will host 288 male athletes and 199 female athletes. In total, 10 matches will be played at the Vélodrome. As for the prices, they are 24 euros for sailing events and vary from 24 euros to 200 euros for football matches.

Economic investment in Marseille

To best host the Olympic Games in 2024, a partnership agreement was signed between the president of the metropolis Martine Vassal and the president of the Olympic Games Committee Tony Estanguet on July 7th, 2022, last year. The sailing events will be held in the 7th district of Marseille, at the nautical base of Roucas Blanc. An aid of 6 million euros was voted to build an Olympic Marina at this place to allow the reception of tourists and Marseilles at the events. Among this investment, 4 million euros are dedicated to land works, and more than 2 million euros will be used to renovate the nautical stadium: 7,000 m² of buildings will be built and 17,000 m² of outdoor spaces are reorganized, and a redevelopment of the basin. At the end of this project, the Roucas Blanc nautical stadium will be able to accommodate 380 Olympic athletes and between 300 and 600 visitors.

The PARIS 2024 event is the most important event in the world : they mobilize 10,500 athletes from 28 disciplines from 206 different nations and more than 20,000 journalists are accredited. For this large-scale event, television viewers are estimated at more than 4 billion and 20 millions visitors, for a total investment of 4 billion euros, generating an estimated global economic impact of more than 10 billion euros, the equivalent of 41 world championships in football. The Olympic Games represent a unique opportunity for Marseille, to revive its local economy, since it will be able to partly benefit from these benefits. It is a first for Marseille, home of major events: the Football World Cup in 1998, the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and soon in 2023, and the Euro in 1984 and 2016. As a reminder, Euro 2016 generated more than 180 million euros for the local economy. The Chambre du Commerce et de l'Industrie of Aix-Marseille Provence (CCIAMP) estimates the economic impact of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Marseille at over 100 million euros. The Deputy Director General of Provence Tourisme underlines « the need to bring tourists to the hinterland in order to relieve congestion in Marseille». In this perspective, 88 French local municipalities have been labeled Terres de Jeux, this label allowing any local authority to seize this label in order to offer their hospitality during the Olympic Games.

Incentive event for local businesses

In order to promote these local economic benefits and to put all the chances in their favour, the CCIAMP created the AMP24 club in November 2022. The co-founders of this association created around the Games are the Organizing Committee of the Olympics, the Regional Olympic and Sports Committee and the Fund Héritage Sport, Orange, Caisse d'Epargne Cepac, Banque populaire Méditerranée and EDF. Membership of this group is open to all local businesses. The CCIAM wishes to federate the companies of the territory to acquire markets in a collective dynamic. In particular, it wants to facilitate local companies' access to the markets generated by the Games. The AMP24 club provides support and business meetings, the promotion of innovations, commitments in terms of sustainable development, integration and inclusion of companies, promotion of sport, athletes, health, young people. Jean-Luc Chauvin, president of the AMP24 club, has expressed in the media MadeinMarseille his desire to «illustrate the capacity for innovation, enhance the artisanal and culinary know-how, the way of life and the quality of life of Marseille» in the eyes of the international community.

The Paris 2024 Olympics: a generator of jobs

Between Paris and Marseille, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games could generate 150,000 jobs, according to the organizers. Of these jobs, 12,000 are in construction, 60,000 are in tourism, and 80,000 are in event management. In these sectors where recruitment is increasingly difficult, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, the challenge is daunting. To speed up the recruitment process, the public services of Pôle Emploi, Missions Locales, CAP Emplois and Apec opened a dedicated Olympic Games 2024 website in September 2021 entitled Emplois 2024. It lists over 12,000 job openings. Pôle emploi and the partners organize job dating (an interview without formal conditions) to recruit future employees. According to the director of Pôle Emploi of the Seine-Saint-Denis, there is a 70% return rate of stable jobs, that is to say in fixed-term contracts of more than six months and permanent contracts. So, according to the estimates about the economic impact and jobs, the results of the JO Paris 2024 look promising. Valérie Carbonne, the deputy Director-General of Provence Tourisme said, to an interview given to EJCAM students that « we can’t yet make estimates about tourists number and local economic benefits ».

Laura AUDEMAR

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How is Marseille getting ready to host a whole new bunch of tourists on 2024 Olympics ?

Interview of Valerie Carbonne, Executive Vice President / Projects of Provence Tourisme.

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Paris 2024 Olympic Games : the challenge of an "almost" carbon-neutral edition

In just over a year, the city of Marseille will host the sailing events for 12 days of competition from July 28 to August 8, as well as matches of the Olympic soccer tournament at the Velodrome stadium.

However, while some sportsmen are enthusiastic about the games being held in France's second-largest capital, others fear that the event will have a heavy environmental impact, as it has been the case for previous Olympic Games editions. In the meantime, the organizers of the games continue to assert that the 2024 Olympic Games will be the first in history to halve the carbon footprint of the games compared with previous editions. At the launch of a steering committee made up of 9 experts to carry out the "Ecological Transformation of the Games" on December 9, 2021, Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 President reaffirmed the goal of achieving a "greener" event.

But where do we stand? Will the city of Marseille have the capacity to welcome the tourists expected for the Olympic Games, while ensuring a more « neutral » carbon footprint ?

For several years now, the concern over global warming has been reinforced by the warnings issued by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). And its latest report highlights the disastrous carbon footprints of cultural and sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Looking back at past editions, the trend is more than clear: in 2020, the Tokyo Games emitted 2.4 million tonnes of CO2, even though human mobility was restricted by the Covid 19 health crisis. Previous editions in London (2012) or Rio (2016), under usual conditions, each time reached over 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. After these alarming datas, the members of the steering committees responsible for leading the 2024 Olympics in Paris and Marseille are therefore facing new environmental challenges. 

The legacy of the Marina Olympique: the cornerstone of the Games

It is the Marina Olympique that will host all the sailing events during the upcoming Games in Marseille. Nearly 7,500 square meters of buildings will be built or renovated, and the basin will be redeveloped, at a total cost of €21.4 million.  Nearly 600 boats and 300 athletes will be able to use the nautical complex. The creation of the Marina Olympique also includes the renovation and modernization of the Roucas-Blanc nautical stadium (located at the northern end of the Prado beaches). Demanding from a sporting point of view, this facility will also be environmentally friendly. Indeed, according to Stéphane Bernard, one of the architects of the Marina Olympique: "What's important, once again, in the question of sustainability, is to be able to endure and to be able to appeal to the whole population, who can come and enjoy everything".

To promote water quality and the preservation of biodiversity, the land work project developed on 2 sites (North and South) of the Marina will improve the treatment of rainwater and prevent its discharge into the sea. This will be achieved thanks to a new rainwater collector and a drain for waste collection during heavy rains. Moreover, according to Hervé Menchon, the city of Marseille's deputy coastal planner, the new buildings at the Marina Olympique will have green roofs, echoing the Prado seaside park. Lastly, the buildings at the end of the corniche will be fitted with photovoltaic panels, so that the base will be largely self-sufficient and generate its own energy. At the same time, to ensure a smooth cohabitation between locals, athletes and tourists, new training centers have been built, such as the one on the island of Frioul, in addition to the 5 existing preparation centers. "It was therefore very important to open the Frioul center so that not to overload the Pointe Rouge, where swimmers, fishermen, yachtsmen and athletes from various clubs are already interacting. The role of the Metropole is also to arbitrate the use of these spaces so that the Olympic preparation goes smoothly for the athletes, without having too much impact on the lives of the people of Marseille and the metropole", declared Louis Feynard, in charge of the Olympic Sailing Games and the Frioul Olympic training center, in an interview for Ouest-France.

Regulating tourist flows to protect the environment

Finally, while the Bouches-du-Rhône department is expecting a big attendance for the Olympic soccer games and the sailing trials (it may reach 100,000 spectators according to Didier Reault, the city of Marseille's deputy for the sea, water sports, beaches and coastline), the issue of managing the flow of tourists and their environmental impact on the territory during the event is still being discussed. Yet, some long term plans have already been put in place. "Sustainable development is a major concern for the Bouches-du-Rhône. Therefore, we have heavily invested in regulating tourist flows in the area. We're working on this to set up systems that will enable us to see the populations present in the area during sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Mobile telephony is part of these devices" explains Valérie Carbonne, deputy director of Provence Tourism in charge of the Olympic Games.  And to avoid the potential spikes in tourist numbers during the Olympic Games, the department is also planning on pushing them to the outskirts: thanks to the Terre de Jeux label created for Paris 2024, more than 80 communes in the Bouches-du-Rhône will be able to offer a number of events on their territory.

In the meantime, one thing is certain: the carbon footprint left by the Olympics and tourists in Paris and Marseille can only be calculated and assessed once the Games have taken place on time...

                                                                                                                           Winona Chastan

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Paris 2024 : Olympics under security pressure in all the country

Will the Paris 2024 Olympics be Emmanuel Macron’s promised “national triumph” ? With a budget of €8 billion, it is - at least - what the government is hoping for. But security threats, including drone attacks, terrorism and anti-government protests, cast a shadow over the perfect picture painted by the organisers. And not only in the capital.

Everyone remembers the hostage-taking at the Munich Olympic Games in September 1972. As an intrinsic fear of seeing such an event repeated again, security budgets around the Olympics are increasingly high. The Vancouver Olympic Games of 2010 had a security budget of approximately USD $1 billion and involved a 15,000-person force of Canadian military, Vancouver police, U.S. security forces, and private contractors to guard the city by air, land and sea. The security measures were extensive and surpassed all previous Olympic Games in size and scope. 

Similarly, Beijing's efforts to transform its appearance into that of a safe, thriving city involved displacing and concealing challenges posed by opponents to the Chinese government, including government dissidents, activists, and migrants, often through forced eviction and imprisonment. It is unclear whether such measures would be possible in a country like France, which is known to value human rights, but where social protest remains strong, and even though homeless people were moved from Paris to Brittany, near Rennes. However, it's impossible to say with 100% certainty that they've been displaced by the upcoming Olympic Games and the influx of tourists. 

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, just two weeks after the city was selected to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, a police helicopter was shot down during a botched raid in one of the city's favelas, resulting in the deaths of three policemen and twenty-one others. The clash between rival gangs and police led to hours of riots and damage to city buses and vehicles. This incident raised concerns about Rio's ability to host a safe Olympic Games. An aspect that the Marseille authorities don't seem to have forgotten.

The “most neutral” Games in history ?

The Paris Games will bring about 9 million fans, 25,000 journalists and 14,000 competitors from 206 countries to the French capital. 

Apart from the financial and environmental issues raised by the games, the influx of tourists to the capital also underlines security concerns. After the Stade de France fiasco at May’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, precautions taken for sporting events in Paris, and in France more generally, have doubled. 

At a time when the Vigipirate plan is still in force and drone attacks are increasingly feared, security threats are a major challenge to be met after the traumatic terrorist attacks of recent years, and against a backdrop of war in Ukraine.

France has asked the European Commission it be allowed to reinstate border controls during the Olympics and this year's Rugby World Cup for people arriving from countries within the passport-free Schengen Area, which allows the unrestricted movement of people.

Olympics but make it French

For the first time, an opening ceremony won’t be held inside a stadium. Instead, the whole extravaganza will unfold along the River Seine, with spectators lining streets and bridges in the heart of Paris. The vessel will lead a flotilla of boats carrying the athletes participating in the Games 6 kilometers, past famous landmarks. The plan is not without risks, and organisers revealed extensive safety protocols.

According to Le Journal du Dimanche, security provisions for the ceremony include police divers, mine clearance teams, special forces on standby and “a particular effort around control of the city’s airspace to preclude drone attacks”.

The Ministry of Defense intends to mobilize at least 40,000 security forces for the opening ceremony, which will be able to accommodate up to 600,000 spectators.

For the whole duration of the games – from July 26th to August 11th – French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin explained that nearly “30,000 police officers and gendarmes” would assure security every day, including from 12,000 to 45,000 security forces for the Ile-de-France region alone. In total, the cost of security measures for the Olympic Games will reach 200 million euros only for the Ministry of the Interior.

Marseille in the line of fire

Marseille will host football games in the Velodrome stadium and sailing events in the Roucas Blanc water sports base.

At the time of writing, Marseille has never seen so many gunshot deaths in such a short space of time. If 2022 was the year of a sad record, with 33 deaths, 2023 seems to be getting off to a flying start, with 23 deaths as of mid-June. 

That is part of the reason why in Marseille, marine sites will be secured by the navy, the air force for anti-drone operations, and the soldiers of Operation Sentinelle, which will be stepped up between now and 2024. 

Specific resources will also be dedicated to cybersecurity. For the Tokyo Games in 2021, 4 billion online attacks were recorded.

The districts around the Vieux-Port (Belsunce, Gare Saint-Charles) are the most affected by non-violent theft, assault and battery. According to a source close to the matter, this is why the Gare Saint-Charles, like other Paris stations and the SNCF, has called in security consultants. With the installation of cameras and the deployment of security guards, the plan is gradually taking shape to ensure that tourists are welcomed with peace of mind. Once again, the Olympic Games seem to be a “glorious” moment for consulting firms.

Besides, recruiting volunteers to strengthen the ranks of protection seems to be a compromise for the French power, which allows citizens to enjoy the games while ensuring the smooth organizational functioning of the latter. Volunteers for Marseille have been selected in January after a phase of preselection. They will be assigned to the Olympic venues and will be tasked with “providing a range of services to the public, athletes and media representatives, as part of sporting operations or organisational assistance”, that is what the website of the city mentions. Marseille's participation in the Olympic Games is similar in many ways to that of Rio.

Carla PLOMB