Thousands of football fans will descend on the French port city of Le Havre this week as it prepares to host a quarter-final match of the Women’s Football World Cup. Cashing in on the sport are local businesses.
Several hotels in the city are fully booked, others have had to hire more staff.
Manager of the Boutique hotel D’Angleterre Diana Marchand said they were close to 90 per cent booked: “Usually things start to pick up in June and the start of summer, but this year business boomed all of a sudden.”
Eric Baudet of Le Havre tourism office said tourists were being guided to the city’s primary landmarks and entertainment spots with a little help from a specially published map by FIFA, international football's governing body.
“We created a so-called FIFA map, which is a regular city map that has all the football-related information but also shows them what there is to see, like museums or architecture, and all the tourist attractions Le Havre has to offer,” said Baudet.
Le Havre's Stade Océane stadium has hosted five group matches, which have included high-profile teams such as the USA. A total of over 80,000 tickets have been sold for these matches. The city and stadium's last match in the tournament will be this Thursday's quarter-final between Norway and England.
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