Some seasoned travelers have even decided to go to Paris because of the attacks, expecting lower costs and less crowded hotels. (Photo : Facebook)
In the aftermath of the Friday attack, closing of borders and fear among tourists, Paris businesses are expecting a bleak Christmas as tourists cancel trips to Paris.
Hours after the Paris terror attack, Melou Antonette Limon-Fujii, a well-traveled Japanese woman, cancelled her booked flights for a Paris Christmas vacation. She was planning to stay at Saint Denise, one of the places attacked, she posted in her Facebook status.
"I have been in Paris so many times and also been to those places attacked," she told Yibada. She cites the pizza restaurant in Republique which is near Marie Antonette's tomb as one of the places she has been to.
Kansascity.com reports on Saturday that 10 of 30 customers of Cook Travel, a New York-based travel agency, told Cook Travel President Blake Fleetwood of their plan to cancel their trip slated in December.
The fear for their safety and lives is not limited to Paris or France but across Europe as worried corporate travelers cancel their trips to the continent, shares Kevin Mitchell, operator of Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group.
Even Middle Easterners, from where the suspected terrorists are from, are also postponing trips to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. Aya Sayed, an Egyptian college graduate, says, "I would be too afraid to go because I don't want to be mistreated because of my headscarf or ethnicity."
Eiffel Tower, the number 1 tourist attraction of Paris, is closed indefinitely.
AP reports that New York investment banker Joe Nardozzi and his wife canceled their Paris wedding anniversary trip in late November. "I have no interest in losing my life over a trip to Paris," he says.
Travelers like Fujii, if they have travel insurance with terrorism coverage, could likely recover their cost, says Squaremouth, a policy comparison website. But it could likely not apply to trips to Paris in the next week or month and may not apply to France and the rest of Europe.
Fleetwood forecasts Paris's businesses negatively affected by the tourist withdrawal. "It's going to hurt the travel industry, the hotels, the airlines, the restaurants."
The situation could result in lower fares at a period usually considered peak travel season. When 9/11 occurred in 2001, airfares dropped to as low as $100 for a round-trip to the U.S., but there were very few takers.
Travel experts say that the decisions by companies and leisure travelers in the coming weeks if they would cancel trips to Paris would depend on the attacks being seen as a one-time event or the start of a stepped up campaign by Islamic radicals who have taken responsibility for the attack.
Fujii, who loves the city of lights, says she will return to Paris in 2016, but the Friday incident made her change her travel plans. Instead of Europe, she will instead go to the Philippines, her land of birth, to celebrate Christmas with relatives and friends.
