Travelsmart
RICHMOND, VA — Paris tourism continues to suffer one year after its famed Bataclan theatre was attacked by terrorists. According to an analysis of traveller flight plans by Allianz Global Assistance, the number of American travellers in Paris have dropped 12.8% during the 2016 winter holiday season, which runs from Thanksgiving through New Year’s.
The company reviewed more than 650,000 Americans’ travel plans during the peak holiday season and found a significant decline in the number of tourists planning on visiting cities affected by terrorism.
While Paris endured the summer vacation season with a moderate increase in booking interest, the City of Lights fell from 80,214 travellers in the 2015 winter holiday season to 69,975 in 2016. Similarly, the number of travellers to Istanbul fell by a whopping 60.2% while Brussels was down by 19.6%.
The three cities lost a combined 19,082 travellers in 2016 versus the previous year. By comparison, the top six cities in Europe with major increases of between 16.1% and 30.8% added a combined total of 18,073 new travellers – still less than the amount lost by Paris, Istanbul and Brussels.
The cities that benefitted most from the redistribution of American travellers include: Amsterdam, Netherlands (+30.8%); Lisbon, Portugal (+29.0%); Venice, Italy (+19.6%); Vienna, Austria (+17.5%); Munich, Germany (+16.5%); and Budapest, Hungary (+16.1%).
While some major cities will see a significant decrease in U.S. travellers visiting during the holiday months, the continued interest in exploring new destinations in well-established countries helped Europe as a whole record its modest 3.01% increase to 694,581 travellers in 2016, compared to 673,685 in 2015.
“While it’s clear that concerns over terrorism have impacted travel to some cities in Europe, it’s encouraging to see that American travellers have opted to explore new destinations across the continent,” said Daniel Durazo, director of communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA. “We’re also noticing that travellers are considering the purchase of travel insurance so that they have the option to cancel or interrupt their trip should there be a terrorist event at their destination within 30 days of their travel.”
For more information go to allianztravelinsurance.com.
Any time a country or region imposes any sort of visa stipulation – even if it’s a waiver – the travel industry sighs a collective groan, knowing the obstacles and headaches to come.
You can read more of the news on source
