CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- The Paris Olympic Games has started, and the travel to Europe in summer continues being hot. The reporter learned from Qunar that as of July 25, from the opening of the Olympic Games to the end of August (July 27 – August 31), the international air ticket bookings with Paris as the destination increased by 2.4 times, Paris hotel bookings increased by 1 time, and the average price of the booking per night increased by 31% compared with the same period last year.

“My friends and I have booked tickets to fly to Paris from Chongqing in April. We bought tickets for swimming and tennis matches, and planned to stay in France for 10 days.” Mr. Wang, a citizen of Chongqing, gave the reporter a budget that this travel would cost about 30,000 yuan including the accommodation of about 1,000 yuan per night, the tickets cost of about 5,000 yuan, and the cost of round-trip tickets.

The reporter learned that the Paris Olympics also drove summer tourism throughout Europe. According to the big data of Qunar, from July 27 to the end of August, the hotel bookings in Italy increased by 1.6 times compared with the same period last year, that in Germany increased by 1.5 times, and that in Spain and Switzerland increased by 1.67 times.

According to the analysis done by Qunar Big Data Research Institute, France has always been a popular destination for summer travel. This year, driven by the Olympic Games, the bookings of wine travel to France has further increased. However, due to the high base of France, the overflow pull effect on other European countries is stronger.

In addition, during the Olympic Games, hotels in Paris had limited capacity and hotel prices increased considerably. Therefore, a lot of savvy consumers will choose to avoid the expensive and crowded time period of the Olympic Games and to travel to France, and then to some other popular tourist destinations in Europe. According to the big data of Qunar, the destinations with higher increases in European travels this year, such as Italy, Germany and Spain, have an average summer hotel booking price 30-50% lower than that in France. (Translated by Vichy, Fathom Language Limited)