Eurostar tickets to the Paris Olympics now released
Only 255 days left till the Olympic Games! Travellers and teams heading to the Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11 2024, as well as the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8 2024, are now able to secure Eurostar tickets and group bookings that are released extra early. Ticket rates for journeys to Paris during the Olympic and Paralympic events begin at 49 pounds per leg (equivalent to 56.26 euros).
According to Francois Le Doze, Chief Commercial Officer for Eurostar, over a million passengers are expected to opt for the Eurostar when heading to the 2024 games, in addition to the 600 Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes. For comparison, in 2022, Eurostar carried 14.8 million passengers. Eurostar plans to introduce an extra service connecting London and Paris every Friday and Sunday throughout the week during the Olympic Games and the summer holiday season to meet this soaring demand.
With 110 return trains, Eurostar aims to accommodate over 88,000 customers weekly for trips between Paris and London. A total of 1,440 seats were made available at the lowest price of 49 pounds (56.26 euros) in both directions between London and Paris, and 1,000 seats available at 49 pounds in both directions between London and Lille. These cheaper tickets seem to have been swiftly snapped up, and prices for a single journey are now around 100 to 300 euros.
Sustainable mobility for a global event
“We have released Eurostar tickets early to provide our customers with the best chance to plan their trip in the greenest way possible to support their Olympic and Paralympic teams, as well as their favourite athletes,” explains Le Doze. The company, which recently absorbed Thalys, also aims to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030 and become the ‘benchmark for sustainable travel in Europe,’ as stated in a news release. Indeed, of the ten host cities in the French Republic, all are accessible except for Teahupo’o in Tahiti. Indeed, this main island of French Polynesia is hosting the Olympic surfing event and is impossible to access other than by air or sea.
The event locations, other than Paris and Tahiti, are Bordeaux (about 2 hours from Paris by TGV), Lille, (about 1 hour from Paris by TGV), Lyon (about 2 hours from Paris by TGV), Marseille (about 3h40 hours from Paris by TGV), Nantes (about 2h15 from Paris by TGV), Nice (about 5h30 from Paris by TGV), Saint-Etienne (about 3h hours from Paris by TGV), Châteauroux (about 2h15 from Paris by TGV). Travellers can book a trip with Eurostar from London all the way to Paris, Lilies, Lyon and Marseille. Otherwise, the SNCF offers a range of services within France. Passengers coming from Switzerland can also travel from Geneva and Lausanne to Marseille and Paris with the TGV Lyria.
SNCF and TGV Lyria are also Olympic partners
Just under a year before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Swiss Olympic organisation announced a partnership with TGV Lyria. A key player in sustainable mobility, Lyria has been chosen as the official partner of the Swiss National Olympic Committee and the Swiss National Paralympic Committee. The Franco-Swiss commercial rail service has thus become an “Official Partner” of the Swiss Olympic organisation. The collaboration with Lyria in 2023 and 2024 will enable the Swiss Olympic and Swiss Paralympic delegations to reach the venue of the sporting competitions in France on board TGV Lyria trains.
The SNCF has been an official supporter of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games since 25 April. With TGV-INTERCITÉS, TER and Transilien, SNCF Voyageurs will be providing rail transport services for teams of athletes, referees and members of the Olympic and Paralympic family, enabling them to travel by train from Paris to the cities hosting the regional events. The SNCF will transport over 15,000 athletes and 15 million spectators during the games, during which 15,000 trains will be operated daily by SNCF Voyageurs, between 3000 French train stations. The French government will implement a transport plan during the games to ensure a smooth event for all. Lastly, Eurostar is owned at 55.75 per cent by SNCF Voyages Développement, a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs, so in a sense, the SNCF will be contributing there too.
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