Tourism to Europe rebounds following year of terror attacks, threats

Global Business

Tourism to Europe rebounds following year of terror attacks, threats

After a string of terror attacks-tourists again are coming in droves to Europe this summer.

Even cities hardest hit by attacks like Brussels and Paris are reporting a surging number of visitors.

CGTN’s Kevin Ozebek reports, tourists don’t have security concerns on their minds.

Tourists are snapping selfies-trying to get the perfect picture in the Grand Place of Brussels.

It’s again jam-packed with tourists-despite this city being the scene of a terror attack last year that killed 32 people. The Brussels Hotel Association said last month 71 percent of hotel rooms in the city were booked.

Last July in the wake of the terror attack-the hotel occupancy rate was just 57 percent.

In Paris tourists now strut the Champs Elysees next to armed police-but they don’t seem to mind. For the first quarter of this year France has seen the number of tourists jump up a record setting 20 percent.

This despite Paris seeing a string of terror attacks over the past two years.

“The public’s become used to them. That means that tourists have been going ahead organizing trips to cities across Europe, and especially to Paris,” Nicolas Lefebvre, director of Paris Tourism Office said.

And the same story along the sun drenched beaches of the French Riviera. Nice suffered through an attack last summer that killed 86 people.

This summer police and their machine guns patrol the beachfront boulevard-but they’re watching over a growing number of tourists. And it’s those security measures that some tourists said make them feel at ease.

Others though said they came to Europe already with zero security concerns.


David Tarsh discusses European tourism

For more on the turning tide of tourism to Europe Rachelle Akuffo spoke to David Tarsh, spokesman for ForwardKeys.