A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #346 - Should the 2030 Olympics take place? -Henri Mora (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

See online: Henri Mora participates in the Grenoble anti-tourism office 
--- According to Atout France, France's tourism development agency, the 
Rugby World Cup which ended at the end of October 2023, "helped boost 
international attendance and extend tourist activity in the late 
season"[1]. Tourism is said to have picked up again in France with an 
11.6% increase in international tourism receipts for the first 3 
quarters compared to last year; an increase of which three quarters 
would have been generated by long-haul customers.
Olivia Grégoire, Minister for Tourism, had, at the end of August, 
welcomed the tourism results for the 2023 summer period, considered 
excellent and announced a very promising late season. She also 
highlighted the forecasts for the whole year which exceeded all 
expectations. It was based on estimates of international revenue which 
it then placed between 64 and 67 billion euros compared to 58 billion in 
2022 which was already a record.

During this press conference Olivia Grégoire also insisted on the 
profound transformations that we are already witnessing in tourism 
consumption. She was referring to changes in consumer behavior linked to 
the changes that we should expect with the ecological transition, 
climate change and the environmental agenda. Previously, on June 19, 
2023, she informed us of a plan against overtourism and the management 
of tourist flows. And on July 18, she returned to the new measures 
giving local elected officials the means to fight against the lack of 
permanent housing in tourist areas.

How can we rejoice at an increase in international attendance imposing 
overmobility and overconsumption, and at the same time develop an 
ecological transition policy and an environmental agenda? How can we 
want to regulate tourist flows and also attract nearly 16 million 
cumulative visitors to Paris during the next Olympic and Paralympic 
Games (JOP)? How can we be concerned about "access to a supply of 
reasonably priced housing throughout the year"[2]when Paris is one of 
the most expensive cities in Europe and the JOP will accentuate the 
phenomenon?

The holding of the JOP in Paris next summer disavows any talk about 
overcrowding and the "balance between the economic impact of the 
development of furnished accommodation and respect for local economic 
and social balances. We have already announced that Airbnb-type rentals 
during the period when the Olympics will take place cost on average 
nearly 1,000 euros per night in Paris, reaching an average of 2,436 
euros per night in the 8th arrondissement. This overcrowding during the 
Olympics not only affects the amount of rentals but, according to the 
admission of the prefect of the region[3], also poses problems in 
transport in Paris and its region which are already saturated while we 
are expecting between 800 000 and 1 million additional people per day.

When a city hosts the largest international sporting event covered by 
20,000 accredited journalists from the 206 countries represented and 3.5 
billion viewers are expected, it must expect an upheaval in the real 
estate market and repercussions on tourism and transport in the longer 
term. Real estate valuation based on Olympic notoriety will probably 
gentrify the cities of Saint Denis, Aubervilliers or Pantin like the 
former poor district of Stratford, transformed since the 2012 London 
Olympics. This notoriety will also strengthen the tourist attractiveness 
of the Paris region . The 1992 Barcelona Olympics are indicative of this 
tourism growth. The number of visitors increased from 1.75 million in 
1990 to 4 million in 2000, then to 13 million in 2010 to reach 19.4 
million tourists in 2019. This meteoric increase was also highlighted in 
a mission report parliamentary submission to the French Prime Minister 
on July 19, 2018 on the measures to be taken to optimize the tourist 
benefits of major international sporting events organized in France, 
even though overtourism in Barcelona posed enormous problems that the 
mayor of Barcelona was trying to stem .

France's candidacy was the only one retained by the International 
Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2030 Winter Games in the Alps. The 
PACA and AURA regions under the respective presidencies of Renaud 
Muselier and Laurent Wauquiez had in fact expressed a few months earlier 
"the wish to propose to the sports movement and the State"[4]to submit a 
joint candidacy to the IOC. At that time, the French National Olympic 
and Sports Committee (CNOSF) emphasized the importance of "taking into 
account the issues linked to the preservation of biodiversity and the 
acceleration of global warming, the consequences of which are even 
greater in mountain areas"[5].

Even today, Laurent Wauquiez, who is leading his rebellion against the 
zero artificialization law aimed at stopping the concreteization and 
waterproofing of soils, insists on an organization of the games which 
makes it possible to "accelerate the energy transition in the 
mountains"[6]. Concerned about giving an image of a sober and 
environmentally friendly Olympic Games, he hopes to make the French Alps 
"the first sustainable mountain in the world for the 2030 Olympics"[7]. 
Let us recall here that the president of the AURA region, barely elected 
in 2016, financed a snow plan which gave priority to snow cannons and 
hill reservoirs. It was then a question of adapting to climate change in 
order to avoid suffering an economic disaster... In 2021, surely for the 
same reasons, accentuated by the Covid crisis, he announced a plan to 
revive snow classes with aid allocated to educational establishments. 
For Laurent Wauquiez, "it is the younger generations who, tomorrow, will 
bring the ski resorts to life. This plan to revive snow classes is a 
first step in converting our children to the mountains"[8]. Cannons by 
the hundreds, future customers by the thousands and the Olympics to be 
organized to maintain an economy based exclusively on snow; snow which 
according to some forecasts will continue to become more and more rare. 
As for Renaud Muselier, he probably hopes to develop four-season tourism 
in Nice with the construction of two new ice rinks for the 2030 
Olympics: faced with tourist overcrowding in the summer, it was 
essential to attract new customers in winter!

The study, "Climate change exacerbates snow-water-energy challenges for 
European ski tourism", published on August 28, 2023 in the journal 
Nature Climate Change, maintains that an increase in temperatures of 2°C 
would put 53% of ski resorts European countries at very high risk of 
lack of snow and an increase of 4° C would put it at 98%. The use of 
artificial snow on half of the surface of the ski slopes would reduce 
the percentage of resorts at very high risk to 27% for an increase of 
2°C and 71% for an increase of 4°C... Hanging on the conclusions of the 
expertise and counter-expertise to make their decisions, have the 
decision-makers and organizers of the JOPs looked into this question or 
have they simply questioned the economic interest of these Games or even 
their own profits and ambitions? Let us recall here that Michaël 
Aloïsio, deputy director of the JOP Organizing Committee (Cojop) is the 
target of an investigation for favoritism and influence peddling in the 
award of a public contract with the Paca region, to constitute his 
preliminary file -candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

At a time in history where the fight against environmental but also 
social destruction requires sincere common action, a conscious society 
free to act according to its needs would certainly have decided to 
reduce its production, its consumption and its hypermobility to limit 
disasters.

But in a society dependent on a market economy whose motto is also 
"faster, higher, stronger!" ", freedom and awareness of action remain 
trapped in the labyrinth of mass industrial production and consumption 
subservient to the demands of work and merchandise.

Henry Mora

author of
Tourist disasters
Political, social and environmental effects of an all-consuming industry 
published by l'Echappée

Notes
[1]Atout France, "Transformed test for French tourism at the end of the 
year", November 29, 2023

[2]Olivia Grégoire, editorial of the Press kit "Fight against the 
attrition of permanent housing in tourist areas: New measures to give 
local elected officials the means to find the right balance", July 18, 2023

[3]Cf. the content of the letter from the prefect of the Île-de-France 
region Marc Guillaume to the Minister responsible for Transport in Le 
Canard Enchainé of December 6, 2023

[4]Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, and 
Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, in 
consultation with David Lappartient, president of the French National 
Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and Marie-Amélie LE FUR, president 
of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF), "CP - 2030 Olympic 
and Paralympic Winter Games", July 18, 2023

[5]ibid

[6]"A test to be validated for the French Alps", Le Dauphiné Libéré, 
December 1, 2023

[7]"Laurent Wauquiez: "Becoming the first sustainable mountain in the 
world for the 2030 Olympics", Le Dauphiné Libéré, December 3, 2023

[8]"Ski resort: Laurent Wauquiez wants to relaunch "snow classes", 20 
minutes, March 31, 2019

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Mouvement-europeen-contre-l-austerite-Apres-l-echec-des-euromanifs-comment
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