Travelers should take precautions
Though experts are predicting a drop in travel to France following the Nov. 13 attacks — and although ISIS has threatened similar action in multiple destinations — most still believe that travel to Paris and other major European cities is safe.
Colin Clarke, a political scientist with the Rand Corporation, said he believed this type of attack on civilians in a public place will become more common in tourist destinations. “One, it’s tactically effective for these groups,” he said. “They get to kill large numbers of people. But two, it’s highly symbolic.
Murielle Blanchard, an agent with Black Pearl Luxury Services who is herself heading to Paris this week, said she would advise clients to avoid large public events. “This is new to all of us, and it’s very frightening because you never know where it’s going to happen,” she said. “But I think if you’re worried about that, then the key is not to attend any large gathering.”
Jim Hutton, chief security officer with On Call International, said travelers should have a plan in place for how to communicate with their party in case of a crisis.
Like Blanchard, Greeley Koch, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, is headed to Paris soon along with a stop in London. He agreed that preparation is key “I think barring anything else happening, I feel comfortable taking those trips just because I’ll make sure that I have proper transportation lined up,” he said. “I know what I need to do to get in and get out of my meetings.”
Stephen Barth, Hospitalitylawyer.com’s founder, said he considered the aspect of safety from a father’s point of view and asked himself what he would do if his daughter were to ask to travel to Paris. He said that while he would allow it, “I do think we would take some steps beforehand,” including registering with the State Department, establishing alternative communication methods and knowing where U.S. embassies are.
Clarke said it is important to note that law enforcement officers and military units are well trained, especially in France. “The French security services are known to be among the most elite in the world,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do in a democracy if you’re going to live the way that Westerners want to live.”
— Jamie Biesiada
Last week was a horrible seven days for European tourism. In
addition to constant reports about the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks that left 129
dead in Paris, American TV audiences were inundated with images of security
forces in France, Belgium, Germany and Italy either laying siege to suspected
terrorist hideaways or patrolling tourist areas with heavy armaments.
As a result, industry veterans and other experts were
predicting that Paris, in particular, would continue to see reduced leisure
tourism, although business travel would likely be back to normal by the
beginning of 2016.
“That response hasn’t really diminished on behalf of the
French government,” said iJET regional analyst Ashley Scarfo. “There’s still a
massive military … presence in place
across the country. They’re very aware of people entering and exiting on all
modes of transportation.”
That increased security, said Jim Hutton, chief security
officer with On Call International, will create “significant delays” for
travelers “due to enhanced border controls, more searches, longer lines, all
those sort of day-to-day things that will impact leisure travelers.”
Moreover, those delays will not be limited to France, Scarfo
said, since similar measures are in place in Belgium and other European
countries.
While increased security equates to more delays, Colin
Clarke, a political scientist at the Rand Corporation, said the visible
military and law enforcement presence will “psychologically attempt to reassure
people.” Clarke also said there will be a lot going on behind the scenes,
including an increased number of plainclothes officers on the streets, as well
as tightened security on major transportation, like the Paris Metro.
A heavy military security presence cuts both ways psychologically.
While it can make potential visitors nervous about potential dangers, Stephen
Barth, founder of Hospitalitylawyer.com, said it also reassures them that a
destination is safe.
“I think a lot of people are of the opinion that Paris
probably is now one of the safest places you could travel because the incident
already occurred, and because of the awareness, hyper-awareness, that law
enforcement is going to have there,” Barth said.
That sentiment was echoed by customers insured by Allianz
Global Assistance and Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection. While both
companies had clients in Paris at the time of the attacks, the companies said
that none expressed a desire to change their plans and come home. In fact,
Allianz Director of Communications Dan Durazo, said that his sister-in-law, who
had been in Paris since before the attacks occurred, was reporting “that
everybody is still going out there and doing what they want to do.”
Allianz has had about 50 clients with upcoming trips voice
their intention to cancel their travel, but that has not been the case with
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s clients, said president Dean Sivley, who
reported that no clients had called about trip cancellations.
“I don’t necessarily expect people to cancel, because I think
the French authorities have been very forthright in terms of things that
they’re doing and actions they’ve taken,” Sivley said.
Even so, experts are predicting a slowdown in leisure travel
to Paris. Many said that in addition to the most recent attacks, the Charlie
Hebdo killings that occurred in January were still fresh enough in travelers’
minds to give them pause.
Paris-based hotelier AccorHotels, which has more than 200
properties in the Paris area ranging from the Pullman luxury brand to the Ibis economy
brand, last week was bracing for a drop in room demand. As of Nov. 19, guests
who had booked at the company’s hotels in Paris or Ile-de-France between Nov.
13 and Dec. 24 were given the choice of postponing their stay for as long as
six months or cancelling without any penalty. Accor also ran a crawl across the
top of its website providing an 800 number for guests changing plans.
“At this stage, it is
too early to have an overview of the situation, though we can expect a bigger
impact than right after the attacks that occurred last January,” AccorHotels
spokeswoman Delphine Dumonceau said, alluding to the Charlie Hebdo killings.
Dan Richards, Global Rescue founder and CEO, said the
tourism slowdown could extend to other major European cities.
“I think what you’ll find in the short term is there
probably is going to be a bit of a chilling effect on tourism to some of these
countries,” Richards said. “The reality is, and I think most people understand
this, the likelihood that you’re caught in one of these attacks is very, very
low.”
Whatever the odds, the possibility of an attack is on
tourists’ minds.
Clarke said, “I think if you’ve got some expendable income,
and you’re looking to take a trip, you’re more likely to go somewhere where
there haven’t been any incidents at all,” like Ireland or Spain.
Scarfo warned that tourists base their choice of
destinations on where they believe they will enjoy themselves most, “and part
of that is wondering if they’ll be safe and secure both during the travel to and
from that location, as well as while they’re in the city or in the country. So
the more people fear the location, the more they’re going to try to stay away
from it.”
Still, Paris being Paris, no one expected the dip in leisure
travel would last long. Murielle Blanchard, an agent with Black Pearl Luxury
Services who specializes in travel to France, said she did not have many
clients traveling to France in the upcoming weeks or around Christmas.
Blanchard, who originally hails from France, had one family cancel
a scheduled visit to Paris this week because they have two young children. All
of her other clients, most of whom are booked to visit France in the spring,
have said they still plan to go.
“As far as people traveling anywhere in the world, they know
very well that it’s happening in Paris today and it can be anywhere else
tomorrow,” Blanchard said. “So they know that there’s two attitudes: You can
stay home and never travel again if you’re really worried about any act of
terrorism, or you can move on with your life, which is really the message we
want to send.”
In a survey by the Business Travel Coalition, 20% of
respondents said they were somewhat or very likely to cancel travel to France
for some period of time. Companies are weighing whether the trips are essential
or nonessential, according to Greely Koch, executive director of the
Association of Corporate Travel Executives.
“Business travelers are resilient,” he said, and will likely
postpone nonessential travel during the holidays but resume trips to France as
usual come January. Koch said essential business trips will likely still take
place, albeit with careful planning.
“Paris is still the business hub of France,” Scarfo said.
“There’s no getting around that. I mean, companies aren’t going to relocate
their offices elsewhere in the country just to sort of obtain a sense of
increased security.”
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Danny King contributed to this report.