As the death toll from Thursday’s London terror attacks climbed past 50, the World Travel & Tourism Council today forecast a minimal impact on tourism.
To assess the impact of the bombings, the London-based association for the first time put to use an eerily prescient “crisis event” forecasting model developed just two months ago.
The impact on international arrivals, travel plans by London residents and confidence by business travelers should be minor, the WTTC said, although it added any travel and tourism setbacks could last as long as other terrorist attacks around the world.
“It is expected that the impact of the London bombing, much like that realized by the Madrid and Bali bombings will continue into 2006 but will have completely dissipated by 2007,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, the WTTC president.
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Department stores and other retailers in central London have lost an estimated $1.4 billion in sales, and hotels, restaurants and other businesses also report mounting financial losses because of terrorist attacks last month.
Retail sales in central London dropped 9 percent in July compared with the same period last year, according to statistics reported by the British Retail Consortium. “The bombings had a huge effect,” said Dee Crooks, a spokeswoman for the trade group.
Crooks said shoppers have been reluctant to visit downtown stores after the attacks, compounding already lagging sales. “The key question now is how U.K. consumers and visitors from
International travel bookings are expected to soften slightly as Thursday's deadly explosions in London stoke tourists' terrorism fears.
A slump in trans-Atlantic tourism would hurt what has been a bright spot for the beleaguered airline industry, though analysts said the impact should be minor and short-lived, reflecting travellers' increasing resilience to unsettling world events.
Any negative effects for the travel industry will likely be most acute in London, where dozens were killed and more than 700 were wounded on Thursday by explosions set off in the city's subway system and on a double-decker bus.
Industry officials said that based on recent experiences
London authorities are still searching for survivors and the death toll continues to rise after Thursday's terrorist attacks. Now travel warnings are issued to some overseas destinations.
One local travel agent says no one is cancelling their trips, and more people are actually making trips.
The phones are still ringing at the enchanted world travel agency. Despite Thursday's terror attacks in London, Inez Baldridge is still booking trips overseas
"We cannot tell at all that anyone at is alarmed by this," Baldridge said.
She says business has actually picked up these last two days and people with trips already booked are making
In the wake of Thursday's rush-hour terrorist bombings in central London, airlines and hotels responded by waiving cancellation fees or letting passengers rebook at a later date with no penalty. Many travelers, meanwhile, adopted a stiff upper lip. And industry experts said they doubted the deadly attacks would have a lasting effect on what has been a banner year for U.S. tourism to Britain.
Capital in turmoil: A police officer joins tourists walking to their hotel in London.
London airports were operating, and train traffic was resuming Thursday night. But hotels were jammed with stranded commuters, and the crippled underground service
Bobby Deol has become the first Indian actor to support the Mayor of London’s travel awareness initiative, called ‘good going: travel awareness in London’ and chose the London Borough of Harrow as the place to make the announcement.
Bobby was in London recently promoting his new film Barsaat which marks the first Bollywood film tie-in with a Mayor of London scheme. ‘good going’, a Transport for London initiative is aimed at encouraging Londoners to travel by bike, public transport, walking and car sharing in a bid to cut congestion, pollution and improve the air quality in London.
Bobby’s new
