Paris - The carnage in Paris has sent shudders through the tourism sector in one of the world's most visited cities with hotel owners, tour operators and others in the industry hoping the expected drop-off in visitors will not last long.
Shares in tourism companies fell sharply across Europe on expectations that people will cut back travel plans after militants launched coordinated attacks across Paris killing at least 129 people in locations of the type that might be visited by tourists.
The Eiffel Tower, Louvre museum and other attractions reopened on Monday after shutting due to the killings, though Disneyland Paris remained closed through Tuesday.
“It is going to be very difficult in the coming days. The sector is going to hurt,” said Georges Panayotis, president and chief executive of hospitality research group MKG.
The damage to tourism would be greater than after the January attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket, since it was bigger and broader, Panayotis said. “The entire world is looking at France,” he said.
France has been on high alert since the January attack by Islamist gunmen who killed 17 people.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the latest killings in retaliation for French air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Gunmen systematically killed at least 89 people at a rock concert by an American band before blowing themselves up. In another attack gunmen fired randomly into a bar.
Between people who cancelled trips and those who shortened their stays, the industry is sure to see an impact, but Francois Navarro, managing director of the Comite Regional du Tourisme Ile de France, told Reuters it was too early to give figures.
“The feedback I am getting from visitors and tour operators is that there is no panic,” he said. “There will be an impact. The question is: will it last until the Christmas holidays or will business pick up in the next 15 days?”
Hotel group Marriott is waiving cancellation fees for bookings at its 15 properties in Paris through Nov. 28 and has increased security at a number of them.
NERVOUS AND FEARFUL
Along the banks of the river Seine that runs through Paris vendors were nervous at the traditional stalls that sell postcards and souvenirs from the “City of Light”.
“I fear for the season to come, from now on it will go downhill,” said Florence Muller, who works at a stall near Notre Dame cathedral. “Contacts at travel agencies tell us US tourists are cancelling their trips.”
The line of people outside the cathedral was much shorter than usual, according to Christophe, who makes a living driving tourists around in his bicycle rickshaw.
“There's just no one, there's a huge difference,” he said. “We can see that people are afraid, just by the way they behave. The Christmas season is coming soon and it's usually great business for us between mid-December and the first week of January. It won't be the same this time.”
In addition to police officers on patrol, there were a handful of soldiers with machine guns near the cathedral's entrance.
On the Paris bourse, Air France, Aeroports de Paris, Eurotunnel and hotel group Accor closed down four percent or more over concern that tourism will see a downturn.
Air France, however, said it had seen no immediate impact on plane occupancy over the weekend and that it is maintaining its flight schedules for the coming days.
“There have been no massive cancellations of trips or people deciding to leave the country,” a spokeswoman said. “It has been a normal weekend for operations.”
Travel company Thomas Cook of Britain, which has the greatest number of foreign visitors to France across the Channel, said it has already assisted two bookings where couples had chosen to leave France early.
Effective immediately, the British company's policy allows for free amendments or cancellations for customers with future bookings to Paris and Disneyland Paris, up to and including November 20.
The Eiffel Tower, the tallest structure in Paris and a symbol of France, reopened on Monday. From nightfall until midnight on Tuesday, it will be lit up in blue, white and red with a projection of Paris's city motto “Fluctuat Nec Mergitur,” which means tossed by the waves but does not sink.
Disneyland Paris will be closed through Tuesday as part of France's three-day national mourning period. The theme park, which receives 14.8 million visits per year, said it was too early to discuss the financial impact.
Reuters