Dubai: Some of the world’s most popular holiday destinations are facing falling tourist arrivals and tourism revenues after being hit by a wave of attacks in recent months.
“Popular tourist destinations are very likely to be deeply affected by recurrent attacks occurring on their soil. Terrorism inspire fear of new attacks, making changes in travel behaviour,” said Kinda Chebib, senior research analyst at consultancy Euromonitor International, by email.
Paris suffered a fall in tourist numbers in November after gunmen carried out simultaneous attacks near a football stadium and on restaurants and a concert hall.
Restaurants and hotels saw business drop by 44 per cent and 57 per cent respectively in the week after the attacks, according to a survey by Synhorcat, the Paris hotel and restaurant operators’ union.
“France is expected to see some decline in tourism following the attacks of 2015 at least for the short to medium term,” Chebib said.
“French hotels’ frequency rates already dropped by 12 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year’s rates. Restaurants have also seen a drop in their revenues by 5-7 per cent in 2015 compared to previous years,” she said.
The attacks followed the assault at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January last year that left 17 people dead.
Tourism accounts for 7 per cent of France’s gross domestic product (GDP). Hotel arrivals in Paris reached 22.4 million in 2014, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau website.
Karan Anand, head of relationships at travel company Cox & Kings, said by email that travellers “rescheduled [flights to Paris] to a later date” following the attacks in the city in November.
Istanbul
Turkey’s tourism industry has also taken a hit. Following a bomb attack in the capital Ankara in October, a suicide bomber on Tuesday killed 10 people and left 15 wounded in Istanbul’s tourist district Sultanahmet, near major tourist attractions including the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Most of those killed were German tourists, who make up the largest share of holidaymakers in Turkey.
Further threatening the industry, a car-bomb attack on Thursday by Kurdish militants on a police station and housing for officers killed and wounded scores of people in southeastern Turkey. Turkey had already lost Russian tourists due to the weakening of the rouble and a spat with Russia, another big supplier of visitors.
Chebib said that the estimated loss in Turkey’s tourism income for 2015 reaches $10 billion.
John Podaras, partner at consultancy Hotel Development Resources, said the attacks are “bound to have longer term implications for the Turkish tourism industry.”
Turkey’s tourism profits fell by 4.4 per cent to $12.29 billion in the third quarter of 2015, Chebib said. In 2014, Turkey attracted 42 million visitors and generated $35 billion in tourism revenues.
“The new attacks, coupled with the domestic political instability and proximity to Syria, have a detrimental impact on tourism flow towards the country,” Chebib said.
Anand said that Cox and Kings “ will take precautions and guide tourists to alternate destinations” following the attacks in Turkey and France.
For Etihad Airways, “it’s too early to assess any impact on Etihad Airways’ flights bookings following the recent attacks in Paris and Istanbul,” a spokesperson for the Abu Dhabi airline told Gulf News by email.
Sharm Al Shaikh
Outside Europe, Egypt’s tourism industry is suffering too.
A Russian plane was downed in Sinai last October killing all 224 people on board.
Britain and Russia, who have both said that the plane was brought down by a bomb, had suspended some flights to Sharm Al Shaikh, where the plane took off from.
Egypt’s tourism minister Hisham Zaazou said last month that direct revenue losses from tourism since the plane crash range from $280 million to $300 million.
Meanwhile last Thursday, multiple blasts and gunfire rocked the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The blasts took place on Thamrin street, a major business and shopping area.
The attacks are expected to hurt Indonesia’s tourism industry, which is performing strongly. Last year, the country attracted 9.5 million visitors. Indonesia, well known for idyllic island Bali, aims to double tourist arrivals to 20 million visitors by 2019.
A similar incident happened in Jakarta in 2009, when the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels were bombed.