Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of the Comité des Champs-Élysées, hopes a new light show and the return of the Christmas market will help jumpstart foot traffic during the key holiday season.
PARIS — The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is gearing up for the holidays with all-new Christmas lights and the return of its traditional market, in the hopes of bringing back visitors deterred by images of looted stores and boarded-up windows during recent protests against student conditions and the high cost of living.
Cate Blanchett is scheduled to switch on the 32 miles of garlands wound across 400 trees in a ceremony on Nov. 22, the first under new Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.
Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of the Comité des Champs-Élysées, is counting on the annual attraction to jumpstart foot traffic, which has been impacted by the fallout from the demonstrations on Oct. 17 and 24.
The organization, which groups 192 members including luxury brands, high street chains, sporting goods firms, restaurants and hotels, is working closely with Paris police chief Patrice Faure and private security firms to guarantee the safety of visitors, he said.
Last year’s Christmas illuminations drew 14.3 million people between Nov. 16 and Jan. 3, with a single-day record of 530,000 visitors on Dec. 27. “Of course, we’re hoping to set another record this year,” Jamet told a news conference on Wednesday.
Annual footfall on the Champs-Élysées rose 10 percent in 2025 to 73 million visitors. In the first nine months of 2026, the famed thoroughfare has welcomed 49 million people, impacted by the conflict in the Middle East and the social unrest in France.
Source link
