In June 2016 Paris and nine other cities in France successfully hosted the UEFA EURO Football Tournament and in November, the Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Tourism & Sports, Jean-François Martins, spoke at the Host City Conference in Glasgow about the plan developed to host the major event and the lessons learned in the process.

The Local Organising Committee had the vision of making the EURO 2016 more than just another event and to make it serve as a boost to the city’s public policies. It developed a plan which considered the needs of the city and how the event could be used to accelerate and facilitate the fulfillment of those needs. As a result, actions were taken to engage all districts of the city, not only central Paris, and all Parisians, not only football fans. The mindset was of permanent attention to all stakeholders, aiming to deliver the best experience to all of them.

Paris also overcame terrorist threats and delivered a safe and secure event without undermining people’s enthusiasm. Finding the balance between excitement and security was the biggest challenge faced in hosting the EURO 2016, according to Jean-François who stated: “There was no magic, it was necessary to invest a lot of money and to have great collaboration between the national government, local public authorities, intelligence agencies, and the private sector”.

The tournament was a success and its impacts very positive; three million people visited Paris during the event; the Fan Zone by the Eiffel Tower welcomed 1.2 million visitors; a 92% satisfaction rate amongst tournament attendees was achieved and there was an increase of 6% in the number of search requests for VisitParis on Google.

The full presentation was kindly shared by Deputy Mayor Jean-François Martins and is available to download here.