Dubai: The latest terrorist attack in France has again cast doubts on the safety of travel around Europe, especially in the Schengen area. While the latest horrific incident in Nice, France that killed more than 80 people has grabbed the headlines, some of those caught with the travel bug remain undeterred.
The French government has reinforced its security measures following the attack on Bastille Day, the third event of such nature to hit the same country in 18 months. Several public activities around France have been cancelled, while a number of countries have issued travel warnings, as a result.
VFS Global, which facilitates the processing of a huge volume of visa applications in the UAE for various Schengen countries, including France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, said that the latest tragedy has not discouraged travellers from making plans to visit France.
“We have not observed any perceivable dip in application volumes as an outcome of the terror attacks in Nice. Travel out of UAE continues to remain as per usual this season,” a spokesperson at VFS told Gulf News.
The official said it is apparent that there is a “greater resilience” among UAE residents when it comes to planning trips to affected destinations after terrorist events.
“Overall, in the UAE and other emerging markets, trends in outbound travel remain positive and continue to show growth from the region.”
Mariyam Kapasi of Dubai Leisure Holidays said she has not received any cancellation requests from their customers so far. The senior holiday consultant had earlier made flight and hotel reservations for some UAE residents wishing to visit France in August and September.
“Some of them are planning to stop by South of France, while others had made plans to visit Paris. So far, they haven’t cancelled their bookings. It looks like they’re going ahead with their travel,” she said.
“I’m sure a lot of people are scared of traveling to France right now but there are those who still want to travel come what may,” she added.
Authorities in a number of countries like Canada and the United Kingdom have, however, recently issued travel warnings, telling citizens to exercise a “high degree of caution”.
“There is a high threat from terrorism. Due to ongoing threats to France by Islamist terrorist groups, and recent French military intervention against Daesh,” a travel alert issued by the UK government stated.
“You should exercise a high degree of caution due to the current elevated threat of terrorism,” said an advisory posted on the Canadian government website.
France is one of the top destinations for UAE travellers, which made 84.4 million trips in 2015, up from 83.6 million from a year earlier and forecast to rise to 93.8 million in 2020, according to Euromonitor International.
Between 2010 and 2015, UAE visitor arrivals in Paris grew from 13.5 million to 15 million. Also during the same period, arrivals in Nice increased from 2 million to 2.2 million.
