Paris, Jan. 3, (dpa/GNA) – Parisian hotels are arming themselves against the parasites ahead of the Olympic Games this summer.
According to the newspaper Le Parisien, numerous insect exterminators in the capital are already receiving bookings for hotel room inspections with sniffer dogs. Hoteliers are going to great lengths to ensure that their rooms are free of the parasites.
The hotels don’t want negative advertising with a photo of a bed bug on a booking platform, so they have organised a preventive check of the rooms, the president of the syndicate of experts for the detection of bed bugs by dogs, Sébastien Pizzocaro, told the newspaper.
“Early infestations can be detected before the arrival of the big waves of tourists,” he said.
Each room inspected costs around €30 ($33). If bedbugs were actually found, the insect exterminators could eradicate them with a vapour treatment.
The Summer Olympic Games are planned from July 26 to August 11, 2024, followed by the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8, 2024.
Last summer, a veritable hysteria about bedbugs broke out in France. People increasingly reported the presence of alleged or actual bedbugs from trains, cinemas and other places – often accompanied by photos.
The authorities recently announced, the spread of bedbugs in France has actually increased in recent years. Between 2017 and 2022, an estimated 11% of all French households were affected by bedbugs.
The bugs suck blood and live in inhabited enclosed spaces. They hide in beds, furniture joints or cracks. Bedbugs are now resistant to practically all over-the-counter insecticides, so professional help is often the only way to eliminate them.