PARIS: Even as security experts say fear of another terrorist attack is largely not rational, France is feeling the effects of a perception of fear. The summer season has long been a frustrating moment for Parisian localsthe majority of whom abscond to summer escapes in the Normand countryside or the Atlantic coast near Biarritzas tourists descend upon the city.
But this summer has been markedly different, with the entire city, including major landmarks like the Louvre museum and the Eiffel Tower, noticeably scarcer. The series of deadly terror attacks in France in the past two years, coupled with major flooding and national strikes, have pushed many tourists to opt for other European destinations. The decrease in tourism to the Paris region caused a loss of around 750 millionor about $846.1 millionin revenue from January to June, the Parisian tourism board announced earlier this week. Tourism is an especially important industry in the French economy, as it generates 7 percent of the countrys GDP.
French tourism professionals are not giving up without a fight, however, and have vowed to combat this period of reduced tourist activity by educating the public about the reality on the ground. The challenge now will be to inform tourism professionals about the security situation, Francois Navarro, managing director of Paris Region Tourist Board, told Travel + Leisure. Navarro is planning a trip to the U.S. in the fall to speak with industry professionals about the steps the city has taken to protect itself.
A return to normality is very important, he said. Less than a year after a series of coordinated attacks rocked the French capital, terror struck again along the Riviera in July when 85 people were killed in an attack in Nice. The southern French city is more than 500 miles from Paris, but the fear of further terror threats has caused many tourists to cancel their travel plans to one of the top visited cities in the world. Tourist hotspots such as the Grand Palais and the Arc de Triomphe saw staggering drops in their visitor numbers43.9 percent and 34.8 percent respectively.
Japanese tourists accounted for the largest change in visits, decreasing by 46.5 percent in comparison with the same period in 2015. Russian visitors dropped by 35 percent, and Chinese by 19.6 percent. U.S. citizens were the least deterred: The number of visitors from the U.S. dipped by 5.7 percent.
