Tourism and Terrorism

Terror attacks in Paris and Nice have cost the French economy over €1.1 billion within the last year.

Tourists are avoiding travelling to Europe due to the fear of being caught in terror attacks, causing a massive decline in tourism.

Mark Okerstrom, chief financial officer of Expedia stated: “After the Brussels bombings, bookings went negative, and after Nice, bookings fell by double digits”.

Military at the Eiffel Tower - Source The Telegraph

The terror attacks in Paris, Brussels, Nice and Germany have made tourists cautious of travelling to Europe. In France, there was a 11.5% decline in visitors, equating to a drop of 9.74 million foreign tourists – costing the French economy €1.1 billion in losses.

The World Tourism Organisation stated: “In France, nightly hotel room bookings after the Paris attacks fell to single digits from 20 percent.”

Terror attacks commonly occur in crowded places , with the attacks on Brussels’ airport and subway which killed 32 people, deterring people from visiting. The Belgium government revealed they had suffered nearly €1 billion loss in tourism, business and tax revenue.

Haydn Long, a spokesperson from Flight Centre stated: “Customers who were concerned about France in the aftermath of the tragic events last year generally still travelled internationally but they may have avoided parts of the country that they were uncomfortable about.”

Dr Sarah Phillips, who lectures in international security at the University of Sydney, said that the likelihood of a tourist being effected by a terror attack while travelling is “extremely small.”

Despite the attacks, flights leaving Australia have actually increased, Long said: “The number of people travelling internationally increased about 5% last year… No doubt some people would have been concerned and may have made that decision, but it would appear that most people travelled as normal.”