The starred chef, also president of Umih, the leading employers' organization in the hotel and catering industry, returned to France Info this Saturday, December 28, 2024 on an “atypical” year for the sector, protected by the Paris Olympics.
Thierry Marx, president of Umih, the leading employers' organization in the hotel and catering industry, welcomed a “nice activity” tourism in France currently, at the end of a year marked by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
On a “a great activity at the moment thanks to the holidays”, he also observed on France Info: “The Paca region is quite favored, the Alps, Paris, the big cities, it’s the double Olympics effect.” According to him, reservations were at +2.2% in hotels, including +9% in Paris.
Thierry Marx qualified the year “atypical” with this revival, which follows certain summer losses caused by the neglect of the capital during the Olympics by the “people who were not interested in sport”, losses also suffered by establishments located in the most secure zones of the Games, which lost «6% or 7%» of turnover. A revival which, for the starred chef, is to be credited to the Olympics: France, like Rio or London in recent years, is indeed benefiting from “attractiveness” conferred by the country's global visibility during the Olympic Games.
For a “food title”
The president of Umih also returned to the effects on the sector of the political crisis and the period of economic uncertainty which has opened since the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron in July. After the “phenomenon of amazement, almost of glaciation”, caused by this decision, tourism in France remains “in absolute fog”, he testified. Thierry Marx also highlighted the risks of layoffs and closures that this situation of uncertainty creates.
Concerning the end of the use of meal vouchers in supermarkets on January 1 due to lack of a 2025 budget, Thierry Marx hoped that “controls” be added to ensure that the ban is respected. The one who has always opposed the use of these restaurant vouchers in stores, according to him depriving restaurants of customers, pleaded this Saturday for the creation, in addition to the said meal voucher, of a “food title” for everyday shopping.
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