Paris Olympics: Hitting the right stride for international assignees 

  
   
2024 is the year of the Paris Olympics. This summer, thousands of athletes and spectators will flock to Paris, France, representing their countries. 
An already-vibrant city will be bustling with excitement surrounding the event, and Paris will be set on the world stage. But what will this mean for Parisians and international assignees living in the capital city?

Navigating potential impacts to current and future global mobility scenarios

With throngs of sports fanatics embarking on their Olympic journeys to Paris, it is only right that organizations with assignees positioned in France’s capital city look to assess the potential impact this world event could have on costs. With the events taking place from July 26 to August 11, 2024, the increased demand can lead to pricing volatility across goods and services.

Analyzing price fluctuations: Mercer Mobility’s trove of data – covering the cost of living, daily costs, housing and airfare, and its basket methodology approach to data analysis – equip us with the tools needed to effectively analyze trends across select data products. As such, we can monitor the impact the Olympics will have on pricing movements. This will help you see the realities facing your assignee population in Paris. Our Per Diem 2.0 tool offers this capability in hundreds of global locations to do the same, allowing users to effectively assess the risk of price movements and adapt with minimal impact to their international assignees.

Mercer’s basket methodology

The custom Olympic basket has been inspired by Mercer’s Per Diem Allowance Calculator 2.0 — a cutting-edge tool that helps you compensate employees for the cost of daily life at assignment locations. Designed specifically to assist with business travelers and expatriates on short-term assignments, it is intended to provide a fixed daily living allowance. Our per diem recommendations are easily customizable to dozens of items across multiple categories with coverage of nearly 500 locations therefore allowing you to effectively establish budgets.

Our Olympic basket utilizes the Per Diem budget approach to create a customized review of goods and services in a specific location – Paris, France. In this analysis, we will assess how certain costs differ over time in the lead up and during the Olympic games.
June 1 July 1 August 1
Your starting line to understand the Paris costs First checkpoint Final checkpoint and finish line

So what’s included in the Olympic basket?

The bespoke Olympic basket of goods includes items visitors may purchase this summer, including travel, transport, toiletries, and food and drink.

By providing an analysis of the impact on price fluctuations, Mercer’s insights enables organizations to make informed decisions and effectively manage their resources.

  • Getting there

    This category focuses on the essential aspects of travel, including flights and hotel accommodations. It comprises the most convenient and cost-effective options, along with more premium options, for getting to Paris.

    Items include: Flights and hotels

  • Getting around

    Once you’ve arrived at your destination, this category comes into play. It revolves around transportation options within the location, such as taxi and bus fares. This category aims to provide you with information on the most convenient and economical as well as more expensive ways to navigate the area.

    Items include: Taxi and bus fares

  • Getting ready

    This category covers a range of aspects, including self-care items, food, and beverages and assists with anything from finding self-care products to exploring local dining options.

    Items include: Toothpaste, deodorant, tissues, water, beer, carbonated beverages, fruit, candy, fast food and café breakfast

Paris Olympics price movements leading up the events

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Getting there

The chart shows the movements in the cost of airfare to Paris and hotels in Paris in the lead up to the 2024 Olympic games.

Source: Mercer’s 2024 Per Diem data

Getting around

The chart shows the movements in the cost of a taxi ride between the Eiffel Tower and the Stade de France and the price of a single metro ride in Paris in the lead up to the 2024 Olympic games.

Source: Mercer’s 2024 Per Diem data

Getting ready

The chart shows the movements in the cost of items you might consume whilst visiting Paris in the lead up to the 2024 Olympic games. This includes a can of beer, 1L bottle of water, a can of Coca Cola, 1kg of fruit, 2 bars of candy, a fast food meal, breakfast at a café, toothpaste, roll-on deodorant and a pack of 15 tissues.

Source: Mercer’s 2024 Per Diem data

How our data can help you

Mercer Mobility’s extensive data offerings can equip you with everything you need to effectively design compensation packages for your mobile employees — from creating bespoke baskets with our Per Diem 2.0 tool to calculating housing, airfare, transportation or furniture allowances. You can even benchmark your mobility policies against industry peers to maintain a competitive advantage or make use of our technology solutions to help manage and monitor international assignments.

Sign up for your 14-day free trial

Empower your compensation decision-making with our Per Diem 2.0 calculator.

Wondering about how to estimate your employees’ daily spending accurately? Sign up today for our 14-day trial and experience the full potential of our daily allowance compensation tool. We will be thrilled to have you on board and as you explore the tool’s extensive range of features and benefits. During this trial, you can explore key functionality and witness first-hand how our solution streamlines your international assignee budget workflow, boosts efficiency, and drives tangible results.

Eligibility: The trial access is exclusively available to HR and talent mobility professionals who are actively engaged in the field. By requesting trial access, you confirm that you meet this eligibility requirement. Mercer reserves the right to decline your application to the trial. 

Given you and your organization meet the eligibility criteria, access details will be provided within 5 business days.

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    This report may not be sold, reproduced, or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Mercer LLC. This report and any recommendations, analysis, or advice provided herein are not intended to be taken as advice regarding any individual situation and should not be relied upon as such. The information contained herein is based on sources Mercer believes are reliable, but Mercer makes no representation or warranty as to its accuracy. Any statements concerning actuarial, tax, accounting, or legal matters are based solely on Mercer’s consulting experience and are not to be relied upon as actuarial, tax, accounting, or legal advice, for which you should consult your own professional advisors. Any modeling, analytics, or projections are subject to inherent uncertainty, and the statements herein could be materially affected if any underlying assumptions, conditions, information, or factors are inaccurate or incomplete or should change. Mercer shall have no obligation to update the report and shall have no liability of any kind (including, without limitation, for any direct, indirect, consequential, exemplary, special or other damages) to you or any other party arising out of this publication or any matter contained herein.
    Edited January 24, 2024