Interest in European vacations sag in the aftermath of terror attacks

SINGAPORE: Appetite for travel to Europe has taken a hit in the wake of multiple terror attacks in and around the continent, based on data from travel booking sites Wego and TripZilla.sg.

 

“Following the Paris attacks, the demand for travel to France was significantly impacted during the first two months after the attacks but it was recovering fairly quickly thereafter,” said Winnie Tan, founder and CEO of TripZilla.sg. “We believe that the same will happen for Belgium.”

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TripZilla.sg’s Ms Tan noted that there has been fewer travel offerings to Turkey in the last months, and “search for ‘Turkey’ as a travel destination has dropped by 57 per cent” compared to a year ago.

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This rebound could be helped by a reduction in room rates and flight prices, as travel services providers respond to an initial fall in travel demand, suggested TripZilla.sg.

A quick check on the websites of Europe-based carriers like AirFrance and KLM showed that they are been offering lower-than-usual prices, at around or below S$1,000 for a return trip from Singapore to some European destinations, including Athens, Barcelona, and Stockholm.

“We have been seeing large discounts for rooms and flights to Europe, and Paris in particular, since the November attacks. Prices have just started to hold relatively steady and many in the industry were thinking the downturn was about to level off completely,” said Ms Tan.

“This new attack has definitely dashed hopes of European tourism’s return to normalisation.”