By Nawab Khan
BRUSSELS, Dec 8 (KUNA) -- For the second time this year, Paris the worldآ’s top tourist capital, has been the scene of terrorist attackd. Brussels, the political capital of the European Union, was under a lock-down for nearly a week due to terrorist threats.
The European travel and hotel companies suffered a loss of two billion euro after the Paris attack. The one-week closure of Brussels cost the Belgian capital around 50 million euro per day.
Tourism is one of the largest sectors of the French economy, accounting for seven percent of Franceآ’s gross domestic product.
Brussels is quickly gaining a reputation as one of Europe's must-see destinations. About 7.6 million tourists visited Belgium in 2013 and direct contribution from travel and tourism to Belgiumآ’s GDP was USD 8.7 billion.
So how will the recent events in France and Belgium affect the flow of tourists to these two European countries? Analysts and experts are of the opinion that there will be some impact on the short term but there will be no long-lasting affect on the tourism industry.
A Belgian expert on Islamic finance and economy Professor Laurent Marliere said that Brussels has actually not experienced the attempts that Paris had.
"We have experienced a preventive action. This has led to the arrests of some suspects. So the impact cannot be comparable with Paris," he told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA.
"Brussels is one of the most media covered city of the world. The presence of large international institutions like the EU and NATO explains that Brussels is the garden of many foreign correspondents. Therefore the media impact of the coverage is higher on Brussels than any city," he explained. "Some media's most popular products are not just "news" but "bad news". Once this particular press has found another bate, it will focus on it and release the pressure on Brussels," said the Belgian expert.
"Some weeks after the Charlie Hebdo tragic assault, tourists had returned in numbers in the French Capital. The impact on Brussels will be limited and on the short run, provided that no real new substantial attempt occur again," he added.
A well-known Brussels-based economist Sunil Prasad said "the ghastly terror attack in Paris last month is likely to have an impact on tourists' traffic to France as the attacks in Paris have worsened worries about terrorism, making it a major challenge for tourism in the long term." He told KUNA that France is the number one tourist destination in the world with 83 million visitors annually generating more than 36 billion euros in tourist revenue. Tourism is one of the largest sectors of the French economy accounting for more than 7 percent of Franceآ’s gross domestic product.
"This ghastly attack will therefore have an economic impact on the French economy and also as it unfortunately comes at a time when the French economy was just showing some sign of recovery," Prasad said.
He, however, stressed that "I see no long lasting impact to French tourism however because travelers know that such events have become a global phenomenon and the best way to send a message to the terrorists is to instill travel confidence on the city." Prasad pointed out that the ongoing Climate Conference in Paris in which more than 40,000 government officials, activists, scientists and environmentalists from all over the world are attending the two week summit is a testimony of France resilience and the countryآ’s determination to fight terrorism. Qaisar Hijazin, secretary general of the Arab-Belgian-Luxembourg chamber of commerce, said that tourism might be affected for a short time.
Regarding Belgium some cultural and sport activities have been postponed , he told KUNA but noted that what the media were reflecting outside was not the reality.
He said that Belgium for Arab tourists is not the first destination. "There are only a few thousands coming from the Arab countries to visit Belgium. The bulk of Arab tourists go to France or Spain." "During the week that Brussels was closed there was some cancellation registered in the hotel sector but now our chamber organized a big annual forum last week. Many people from the Arab countries contacted me and I gave them the reality," he said.
"Now life is back to normal in Brussels and I have myself invited people from Arab countries and they came and saw themselves that the reality was different. Only for one week prevention was taken by the Belgian authorities and nothing happened here and we hope nothing will happen in the future," Hijazin added.
Shad Islam, director of policy in the think tank آ‘Friends of Europe آ‘ said that vigilance and security checks and passport controls will be increased in the Schengen and non Schengen area in the EU.
"There will not be an impact on genuine tourists. There will be more questions asked on those people entering the European territory. People should be aware that there will be more security checks," she told KUNA.
"I donآ’t expect there will be an impact on tourist destinations in Europe," she added and noted people are traveling to the US and elsewhere.
Michael Emerson, Associate Senior Research Fellow at the think tank Centre for European Policy Studies said he thinks that tourists outside Europe may be worried of the incidents but in reality within Europe life is normal.
"So the apprehensions are not really justified. Regarding frontier checks and controls for tourists nothing changes, he told KUNA. (end) nk.rk