PARIS: Paris hotels, usually crammed with New Year revellers, have seen New Year reservations plunge 30 percent in the wake of the November 13 attacks, the head of the regional hotel union said Thursday.
“Reservations are down 30 to 40 percent this year on previous years,” said Evelyne Maes, president of the Umih union for the Ile-de-France region covering the capital.
“Normally, our establishments are full at year end,” she told French radio.
Maes said foreign tourists normally flock to the ‘City of Light’ but the attacks blamed on Islamic extremists which killed 130 people six weeks ago “have made people fearful –- people have perhaps hesitated when it comes to visiting Paris.”
She added hoteliers had “also seen last-minute cancellations” and that the fall-off in tourist numbers had hit all kinds of accommodation, including the furnished variety and also the Airbnb home rental web platform.
Hotel reservations plunged in the immediate aftermath of the violence as they did after a series of attacks in January targeting a satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket that killed 17.
Following those attacks, hotel reservations took three months to return to normal, Maes said.
But she held out hope of a swifter pick-up in activity this time.
“People are starting to come back for the end of the year. Reservations for January... are almost normal.” --AFP