How Will the Notre Dame Cathedral Fire Affect the French Economy?
By: Rudrani Suttar
Earlier this week, one of France’s most popular historical destinations, the Notre Dame, caught on fire. After the flames were extinguished, the Notre Dame lost its iconic spire, over 100 meters of original wooden detailing, and hundreds of years of history, architecture, religion, and art. Though it is easy to see the sentimental loss caused by the fire, what will the impact of this tragedy be upon the French economy?
Notre Dame is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations, bringing in around twelve million tourists a year. By being such an important tourist attraction, it stood as one of the most important destinations for many small businesses around the cathedral. Due to the fire, the cathedral will most likely be closed to the public, strongly affecting those surrounding small businesses by a decrease in consumer spending at those smaller businesses. There will be a decrease in consumer spending because the effect of the cathedral closing will limit the number of tourists entering the area. Conversely, the change will most likely be minimal as the cathedral is located near various other tourist destinations such as the Sainte-Chapelle.
Though this tragedy may negatively affect the small businesses surrounding the Notre Dame Cathedral, the fire may have positive effects on the fire safety industry as well as industries focusing on structural engineering. Due to the fire, caretakers of historical artifacts will shift their focus to preventing such a tragedy from happening again, affecting innovation regarding fire safety. To further prevent an atrocity such as this from happening again, there will be more of a demand for structural engineers to find ways to reinforce historical landmarks to guard against disasters. Such a demand may increase the job demand for engineers and strengthen job security for currently employed engineers. There will also be a demand for workers in the trades and historians, as the rebuilding of Notre Dame will require many more workers to restore the building to historical accuracy.
Though an increase in jobs may be a positive effect of the fire, the cost of rebuilding will offset it greatly. French president Emmanuel Macron has stated that the Notre Dame will be rebuilt in the next five to six years. This will be a very expensive undertaking, but has already received pledges of aid from various major corporations. “Francois-Henri Pinault, whose Artemis holding company owns a controlling stake in Kering, pledged 100 million euros ($113 million), while Bernard Arnault, chair of LVMH, gave 200 million euros,” (CNBC). Many other corporations such as Disney, Apple, and Air France, have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help rebuild the famous cathedral. Though tragic, this event has managed to unite the great corporations of France and form a source of societal connection across the world.
Works Cited
Handley, Lucy, and Isabel Soisson. “Apple Joins French Firms in Pledging Millions to Rebuild Notre Dame after Fire.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/notre-dame-fire-louis-vuitton-and-gucci-owners-give-over-300-million.html.
Hickey, John, and John Hickey. “Notre Dame Fire like the Burning of the Library of Alexandria, Historian Says.” Berkeley News, 17 Apr. 2019, news.berkeley.edu/2019/04/15/notre-dame-fire-a-loss-to-the-french-that-americans-cant-completely-visualize/.
Oliver, David. “Notre Dame Cathedral: What You Need to Know If You're Planning to Visit Paris.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 17 Apr. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2019/04/16/notre-dame-cathedral-paris-tourist-information/3482294002/.
“Rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral: Heart-Breaking Costs of a Catastrophic Fire.” CCN, 16 Apr. 2019, www.ccn.com/cost-rebuilding-notre-dame-cathedral-catastrophic-fire.
“Travel Industry Reacts to Notre Dame Cathedral Fire.” TravelPulse, www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/travel-industry-reacts-to-notre-dame-cathedral-fire.html.
Valle, Gaby Del. “Notre Dame Is One of Paris's Most Visited Landmarks. Here's What the Fire Could Mean for the City.” Vox, Vox, 16 Apr. 2019, www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/16/18410667/notre-dame-fire-paris-tourism.
The Notre Dame Cathedral fire was an event that no one saw coming and was very tragic. As you stated, this will no longer be a functional tourist attraction and may decrease the traffic in the area, affecting the surroudnign buisnessed that feed off of tourists. With that said, once the cathedral is rebuilt, those tourists will come back to see the redone cathedral. This will be a cost intensive project but as you said many people are willing and have donated to rebuild it. It will require numerous workers and therefor the demand for contruction workers, engineers, architects, etc will increase.
ReplyDeleteThe burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral was very tragic. There has been some controversy about organizations donating to the cause. Many people complained about how there are better things to donate to that need more help than restoring a historical architecture. Many people believed that donating to helping clean the ocean. Personally, I believe that the money should have gone to a better cause, but the Notre Dame Cathedral is also important. The amount of money donated was a little too much and some of it should have gone to a different cause, both still receiving donations.
ReplyDeleteI was very interested in your writing as the fire was so sudden and unexpected and that makes your piece very relevant as this has just happened. I did not think although how it would effect the economy and it was so much more than just a building/tourist attraction. I like how you mentioned that this will be very expensive to rebuild, however since it was so iconic I feel anyone will be willing to help and donate and it will provide many jobs which will help the economy in France which is a bonus. Although the event was so tragic, it is nothing that people cannot handle and they will strive to make it better and fix it.
ReplyDeleteThough the Notre Dame Cathedral was one of France's largest and most popular tourist destinations, I do not believe this will have a drastic effect on the French economy. Yes, the economy will have some decline, due to the lessening of income brought in by the Cathedral and surrounding businesses, however, there are many other destinations that will keep tourists coming to France. France is a fortunate country to have many well known monuments that people visit from all around. Therefore, the economy will fluctuate, but not have major long lasting effects.
ReplyDeleteI would completely agree with all the points stated within this topic. I think that the fire of the Notre Dame was a huge unexpected tragedy that will have negative effects on the economy of France until the edifice is rebuilt. Small businesses may have to relocate or rely on other consumers or products to help their income. And the decrease in business may lead to the shift of higher prices just to make up for the tourist consumption that was lost.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that even though this event may have created jobs for people that may not be able to find one right now, this will still end up costing very much to repair and be able to fireproof against a possible fire that could happen in the future. This will probably end up lowering the tourism for the near future as it is being repaired too, but it should rise up again once the repairs are all completed.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Notre Dame Cathedral fire was a devastating loss of a historic landmark, I would argue that the fire may only majorly affect local businesses instead of the overall french economy. Right now, there is some incentive for people to go out and the Cathedral in it's burnt state. This topical issue is going to bring in some people and will improve economy temporarily. Then after the Cathedral reopens, the deluge of tourism riding the excitement of the newly rebuilt landmark will aid in paying for the losses experienced to the local economy. For the costs of rebuilding the monument, many companies such as the ones that have already donated will chip in as that will reflect well on themselves and will bring in some consumer interest.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard about the fire at Notre Dame, I was devastated. Having been there myself and learning about its history and importance in Art History, I truly felt the impact of this fire. This fire is going to leave a huge hole Paris and its number of tourists. There are lot of people who come for Notre Dame and the surrounding businesses. Notre Dame receives profit in many different ways. There are artists selling their paintings of Notre Dame on the outskirts, vendors who sell food to hungry tourists looking for lunch before exploring the massive church, tourists can leave donations throughout the interior of the chapel, merchandise from high end jewelry to Notre Dame souvenir pins are widely popular, and it is one of the main attraction sites seen on the Seine river boat tour. So although there are many other iconic buildings people check off their bucket list while in Paris, Notre Dame provides extensive profit because of its history and accessibility. Now instead of receiving profit, it will be sucking the economy dry with its repair costs. We better get a go fund me started.
ReplyDeleteWhile this terrible accident is hard on society due to the history and art behind the structure, I am glad you pointed out the logistics. Without this tourist attraction, France will be affected. Now, some may not chose to come and see Notre Dame due to not actually being able to visit, yet few may come a long journey to see the destruction because this Cathedral has an emotional tie to many people. As a result, I do not believe that entire tourism will be gone but lessened. Additionally, I agree that there is going to be a call for new engineers and builders because of the importance of the cathedral and how beautiful it was before the fire. As a result, jobs will increase for this project. Also, I do agree with the cost causing a set back in the economy. While there is still large donations occurring, this building of the Cathedral will be expansive and have to also happen rapidly due to the need for tourism. Finally, in the far future after the Cathedral is rebuilt, I believe that tourism is going to be larger than before due to people wanting to see the possible new changes or replication of the Cathedral due to the admiration for Notre Dame.
ReplyDeleteThe Notre Dame cathedral fire is an interesting event to analyze from an economic perspective. Because of the deep cultural and spiritual value the landmark possessed, there is certainly a huge amount of incentive for people across the world to help fund its reconstruction. For this reason, it doesn't seem that rebuilding it will force any significant financial burden on the French government. In fact, I think that the amount of jobs it will create and productivity it will require will boost France's economy. I found it really interesting that you considered the impact this event may have on the maintenance on other historic landmarks across the world. Finally, I do believe that it is paramount to maintain the religious sanctity of the cathedral rather than to reconstruct a secular version, as that would destroy the deep-rooted historical and spiritual significance that made it so popular, impactful, and thus economically beneficial in the first place.
ReplyDeleteClearly the Notre Dame fire will have an impact on the French economy years to come. As you said France may lose out on the revenue that comes with the millions of tourists that visit the iconic cathedral every year. Even so, this destruction may increase visits to other tourists attractions, as the fire will remind people that these landmarks are not necessarily permanent; with this sense of urgency in mind, there may not be as big of a hit to the tourism industry in France, though an effect will most definitely be felt. Additionally, as you said, many vendors around Notre Dame will be affected. This may cause some frictional unemployment that can hopefully be quickly remedied. In looking at any positives that came from the fire, there will be a significant increase in demand for construction workers over the next few years; this increase in employment could potentially offset some of the economic effects of the fire. Even so, no matter what way you look at it, the destruction of Notre Dame will have a large impact on the strength and composition of the French economy.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to hear your point of view on this tragedy. At first I only looked at it from a standpoint of losing a piece of history however it is much more than that. As you mentioned it may decrease the tourism in that area which will also lower business for those surrounding it. However, I believe that this may serve as a way for it to receive more attraction while it is being rebuilt because the fire is now a part of its history. I have visited the cathedral myself while in France and it is a beautiful building, and I am hopeful they will be able to rebuild it to its original integrity. I also wonder how the many donations will effect the economy, especially considering there are international corporations donating to support the cause.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting blog post! I like how you took a recent tragedy and analyzed the very real effects that it could have on France's economy. You did mention that it would be an expensive process to recover the building, but again hundreds of millions of dollars have been pledged by various individuals to rebuild the church. The one thing I do find interesting is that recently, many religious and historical sites in various parts of the world with great amounts of history have burned down, but not only is the rest of the world oblivious but no chivalrous donations have been made to help rebuild or even save these sites and they effect the economies of those areas as well. For example, one of the oldest and largest mosques in Israel, about 3000 years older than Notre Dame, burned down the same night as the Notre Dame did. Considering that on top of being a tourist attraction, it is also a crucial destination of thousands of religious travelers, the surrounding area of Jerusalem suffered greatly and similarly because of it. When you look at events like this that happen, not only does it directly impact GDP with tourism but because people are no longer coming from far and wide to see these historical sites, the demand for the currencies in these countries will decrease as well which will create a trade imbalance as these countries will become slightly more dependent on other currencies to trade.
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ReplyDeleteWhile the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral was tragic, there are some positives, as you mentioned, that could come of this tragedy. People may no longer be able to enter the cathedral, but I don’t think this will necessarily stop tourists or even locals from visiting the area. One of the first things that came to my mind was the Twin Towers. After the towers collapsed, the 9/11 memorial and museum were constructed. In terms of economics, this benefited New York as the memorial attracts more tourists than the World Trade Center did. Due to the publicity and the tragedy, the Notre Dame Cathedral will probably entice more people to visit now and in the future when the cathedral gets rebuilt.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's really interesting the attention and the support that the burning of the Notre Dame has received. It seems that this same principle could be applied to climate change or something of the sort: how fast could we change around the course of the deterioration of the environment if people felt the same moral pull toward the history and beauty of nature as they do towards this grand cathedral? What effects would it have on our economy? How long will we have to wait until the climate is given the same attention of this replaceable monument?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Clara. Having been to Notre Dame personally, it's easy to see the vast impact of tourism on local vendors. The entire road leading up to the landmark is filled with vendors on the street selling souvenirs for hours on end. A decrease in tourism could significantly decrease these individuals' ability to make a livable wage. However, I also agree that the rebuilding process will have benefits too. Just like any other public works project, rebuilding will create jobs and increase household wealth through the spending multiplier. Due to the donation aspect, this increase in jobs will cost France significantly less money than a tax-funded project, driving up the net increase in wealth.
ReplyDeleteI found this post to be really interesting? I wonder if we can even conclude the true economic effects of the fire due to how recent it occured, but I predict it will have a great economic effect on the tourism industry. Construction on site will not be finished for 5-6 years, and that is a significant amount of time for one of France's most historic tourist spots to be out of commission. Also, can we be sure that tourists will be interested in visiting a new version of the cathedral or will they simply wish they would've saw the original? I think it is also important to mention what the economic payoff will be here. The cathedral itself doesn't bring in money from tourists, but it costs a substantial amount, leaving the construction costs to be covered with no payback.
ReplyDeleteIts possible that the fire may have actually impacted the French economy more than harming it. Yes some surrounding businesses lost revenue but I think by rebuilding the Cathedral the government is putting a lot of money into the hands of workers and other companies. I think that the area will not have much less consumer spending because there are many tourist locations near that location and people still may visit the area to see the burnt cathedral.
ReplyDelete-Kaustav Saha