Violent attacks cause blow to tourism in France

Recent terror attacks have dealt a new blow to France tourism which has yet to recover fully from the bloody assaults in Paris in January and November last year.

Arrivals by air slumped 8.8 per cent compared with the same period in 2015, in the week following the July 14 attack in Nice, the country's second most visited city after Paris, Xinhua news agency cited a statistical agent as saying.

Meanwhile, hotel reservations in the French Riviera, the Mediterranean coastal region where Nice is located, have dropped as much as 30 per cent in the weeks after the Bastille Day attack that killed 84 persons, according to the country's economy ministry.

The tourism sector has been struggling for months since the deadly attacks in Paris on November 13 last year that left 130 people dead and over 250 injured.

The carnage on Nice's famed seaside boulevard has hit the business particularly hard because the summer season -- "the golden period" -- was just getting into full swing but the attack wiped out all the positive effects.

Cancellations jumped by 20 per cent and were expected to rise further after July 26 Church attack in Normandy.

A spate of terrorist attacks across Europe has already shaken people's confidence in the safety and stability of the region.

In the first half of 2016, 19 countries that use the euro have seen the worst economic performance since the 2008 financial crisis.

Tourism, which accounts for 10 per cent of economic activity in the EU, has been considered as a glaring hope for the overall recovery.

--IANS

sm/py/vt