Paris and its metropolis forms one of the most visited urban complexes in the world. Over 67 million overnight stays were recorded in Île-de-France in 2013, 37 million of these were within Paris proper. Over the entire year 2012 Parisian hotels were occupied on average 80%, an extremely high percentage meaning that there were periods when saturation point was reached while the number of visiting tourists continued to rise. Yet in Paris the number of hotel rooms had increased only slightly, except in the top, luxury range which encouraged an overall rise in the prices charged.
This is the context which led to the City of Paris deciding that a plan for hotels was needed covering the period 2008-2020 and that public land should be reserved to enable a 10 % increase in the capacity to accommodate tourists, which represented 7,000 extra rooms. The plan also had a qualitative dimension which was intended to ensure the diversity of offers available for all types of public and that the quality of the architecture, environmental criteria and local services should be maintained. The growth of this economic sector and the Paris City Hall's commitment to it has also encouraged investors to open new establishments on private land in various sectors of the city.
The objectives of the Hotel Plan were already reached by the beginning of 2014 with 7,254 rooms having either been completed, in the process of being built or integrated into well advanced projects. The Île-de-France Region made the same diagnostic in its regional tourism and leisure plan. It was estimated that 20,000 more rooms needed to be provided between 2010 and 2020. A map has been made showing all the known tourist accommodation projects which will exist by 2020 on the Parisian territory and in the three departments of the first inner ring of suburbs as well as in the development zones of the Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.
