2023-10-22 17:32:18
Martin Lange / Credit photo : MUSTAFA YALCIN / ANADOLU / ANADOLU VIA AFP
It has become a sad habit at the Palace of Versailles. This Sunday noon, the monument, which attracts up to 17,000 visitors per day, was once once more targeted by a bomb threat, prompting its evacuation. A scenario which was repeated for the seventh time in the space of eight days. Last week, many airports also experienced the phenomenon with 70 alerts recorded.
Forty-five of them had to be evacuated, causing significant delays and even cancellations. On Wednesday, 130 planes were unable to take off. All of this is very expensive, says Nicolas Paulissen, general delegate of the French Airports Union. “We know, with estimates, that it amounts to millions of euros. With flight cancellations, you have less revenue, fewer passengers. You also have an increase in costs with the disorganization, for example overtime that you had to pay.
A shortfall of several tens of thousands of euros
A tourism specialist even mentions tens of millions of euros. Regarding the Palace of Versailles, the management did not want to provide a figure, but it is quite easy to find one on the website of the monument, which brings in 170,000 euros in ticket revenue every day. The shortfall might therefore be counted in tens of thousands of euros, even if management ensures that the castle is never closed for the entire day and that most tourists wait until it reopens to return to visit.
But in Versailles, there is more than just visiting the castle. An entire economy exists there, built around shops and restaurants which also suffer from these evacuations. Nicolas Paulissen also fears that this atmosphere will harm the tourism sector as a whole. “Given the symbol that the Palace of Versailles represents, this risks having an impact on tourism with cancellations of people who wanted to visit France and who, given the context, are not going to do so.” In Versailles, the two weeks of school holidays will be particularly scrutinized to check whether or not the drop in attendance has occurred.
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