France: Terrorist attacks affected tourism this summer

France's tourism industry, a major driver of this country’s economy, suffered significant declines since the Islamic State’s gunmen have killed 130 people in an attack in Paris last year. Another attack happened in July when a militant killed 85 people with a truck by entering the main street in the Riviera city of Nice. Two weeks later, two men killed a priest in a small town in Normandy.

Tourists worldwide reacted strongly to the terrorist attacks, as secretary in tourism Matthias Fekl declared. The worst hit was the accommodation price in luxury hotels. If tourists in Europe have already canceled their holiday plans, the minister was quoted to be saying that the citizens of the USA, Asia and the Gulf States were not willing to visit France also.

In response to terrorist attacks, President Francois Hollande has extended the state of emergency, sending troops to patrol the airports and major tourist attractions of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was evacuated Friday in a security exercise. Also the public transport of the city suffers regular deviations and suspicious luggage are checked carefully, writes bloomberg.com.

Even before the latest attacks, a measure of Parisian hotels income recorded a decreased of 14% for the first five months of the year. Reservations for August were considered "bad" or "very bad" by more than half of the 450 representatives of the hotel industry who were part of the poll. Accommodation prices fell by around 10% in July, this year.