It's a real treasure hunt, and one for which the thousands of visitors expected for the Olympic and Paralympic Games are surely not prepared. Where is the Paris tourist office? If you type the term into your search engine, you'll have a hard time finding its address – only the former site on rue de Rivoli, in the heart of Paris, is listed in the first results. On the Google Maps application, the search proves no more productive: the location is not listed under the term "office de tourisme," but rather under "Paris Je t'aime," the official name of this entity, though unknown to the general public.
And yet, since April, the Paris tourist office has moved to Quai Jacques-Chirac, in the 15th arrondissement, near the Bir-Hakeim metro station. This is its main office – while a small temporary branch has been opened, just for the summer, in the Gare du Nord.
Once on site, in this neighborhood close to the Eiffel Tower, but very far from the center of town, the quest continues. Outside, no large sign clearly indicates that this concrete cube, which until 2022 was the headquarters of the Youth Information and Documentation Center, now houses the tourist office in the capital of the world's leading tourist destination. The exhibition devoted to urban sports, entitled "Spot 24," installed on the same premises, monopolizes most of the advertising space.
Once inside, apart from the exhibition, you will find a colorful café with a welcoming terrace, as well as a souvenir store. By contrast, the space devoted to providing advice and welcoming travelers has been reduced to a bare minimum: a silver buffet in a windowless hall. On that June day, an advisor sat there alone in her chair. No counter, no bench to sit on, minimal documentation and music from the bar in the background. You wonder if you've really come to the right place. In the course of one hour, on a Tuesday afternoon, only one German tourist approached the multilingual advisor, to pick up a pre-purchased transport ticket.
"It's a place that is still difficult to bring to life, that needs to get its bearings. We opened late and not at the best time. It's going to take some time to be identified, especially as the Quai Jacques-Chirac is not very well known," said Corinne Menegaux, director of the tourist office. Her own office is located on Rue de Beaubourg, five kilometers from the site that welcomes the public. She assured us that the search engine optimization problems will be solved. "It's a bit complicated with our friends at Google but we're on top of it."
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