PARIS -- Nearly a year and a half after the November 2015
terror attacks that rocked Paris to its core, the City of Light was starting to
feel like its old self again on a recent weekend at the end of March.
Tourists were lining up at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, the
Jardin du Luxembourg was buzzing with foot traffic and the Le Marais
neighborhood was so packed at times that it was hard to walk through certain
streets. On the Pont Neuf, the selfie sticks were fully extended as sightseers
snapped a particularly picturesque sunset over the Seine.
Granted, it was the first warm and sunny weekend of spring,
and Parisians themselves were out in full force. But it was clear that tourists
were contributing to the crowds, too.
According to tour operators and Atout France, the country's
tourism development agency, recent visitor numbers reflect what many believed
would be an inevitable return of travel following the deadly attacks on the No.
1 tourism destination in the world.
In the Hot Seat
Brett Tollman, CEO of The Travel Corporation, talked about staying the course in France. Read More
"Paris is still recovering, but it's well on its way,"
Brett Tollman, chief executive of tour operator conglomerate The Travel Corp.,
said in an interview in Paris onboard Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection's
newly launched S.S. Joie de Vivre.
The Travel Corp. had initially thought it might not go
forward with the launch of a new vessel on the Seine following the attacks but
ultimately decided to commit to the launch and to the destination.
"Our bookings are up nicely vs. a year ago,"
Tollman said. "Are they where they were prior to Nov. 13, 2015? No, but
they're well on their way."
Travel to Paris was severely impacted in the aftermath of
the ISIS terror attacks that killed 130 people and injured scores more. The
ripple effects were felt throughout France and across the European continent,
which was only furthered by attacks that followed in Brussels and Nice, France,
last year.
In 2016, France experienced a 4.6% decrease in international
visitors and a 2.6% drop in American tourists compared with 2015, when the
country welcomed a record 84.5 million foreign tourists, 3.6 million of whom
were Americans.
Since last November, France has begun to see a sharp rebound
in flight bookings, according to Atout France. Citing ARC data, the development
agency reported that flight tickets issued for U.S. travel to France were up
36% last November and 37% in December, compared with the same months in 2015.
In a statement, Atout France said, "Figures from ARC,
airlines, [travel data firm] ForwardKeys [and] tour operators indicate a very
positive upward trend, with increases in bookings and travel intentions
averaging 20% to date over the same period last year."
Flights to Paris are up 17.1% for the first quarter of 2017
compared with the first quarter of 2016, and hotel occupancy rates in the city
during January averaged 66.4%, which represents an 8.4% increase over January
2016, according to Atout France.
Indeed, it was seemingly business as usual at the landmark
luxury property Ritz Paris, which reopened in July after a massive, four-year
renovation, the hotel's first closure since it opened in 1898. During a tour of
the hotel, the property's cafes and restaurants were buzzing with patrons.
Our guide told us that the Ritz was booked solid during
Paris Fashion Week and that occupancy levels have remained high ever since,
indicating that the well-heeled are coming back to Paris as well.
Back on the streets of Paris, where it was easy to grab a
seat at any cafe or bistro during a visit to the city only days after the 2015
attacks, this time around, a choice spot at a corner bistro was much harder to
come by and often required a bit of a wait.
Again, the
intoxicating weather was likely a contributing factor, but the bistro buzz
stood in stark contrast to campaigns following the November attacks encouraging
patrons to support local cafes in defiance of any terrorism fears the attacks
may have engendered.
And yet subtle remnants of the effects the attacks had on
the city remained 18 months later. Spotted throughout the city were armed
police and security personnel. Locals said the heightened security has been
omnipresent since November 2015 and that the city has been on higher alert ever
since.
Their presence, however, was nowhere near the level it
reached in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, when it seemed there were
more security officials than tourists at the city's most popular sites.
This time around, the ratios had reversed. The much-more
relaxed guards appeared to be outnumbered by carefree tourists, eager to have
their photos taken with Paris' iconic landmarks in the background.
"There's only one Paris, and there will always only be
one Paris," Trafalgar CEO Gavin Tollman said in an interview last month
aboard the Joie de Vivre in Paris. He spoke as the vessel prepared to make its
way up the Seine River, adding. "As we move up to Normandy, it's a
destination where there's such a connection, particularly with Americans."
It would be hard to disagree with that. Paris was putting
its best foot forward last month, complete with stunning spring blooms and warm
rays of the sun shining upon a city too pretty to ever fail. And too full of
light to ever go dark.