2024-04-02 04:25:30
Margaux Fodéré / Photo credits: DANIEL DORKO / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
After several alerts in French middle and high schools, the threat of an attack worries the French. A few months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and following the Moscow attack, the government has raised the Vigipirate system to its highest “emergency attack” level. A situation that concerns people beyond French borders. This summer, nearly a million and a half foreign tourists are expected for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris according to the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (UMIH) Paris.
Reservations put on hold
Some have paused their reservations while waiting to see how the context will evolve in the coming weeks, notes Laurent Demeure, president of the global luxury real estate network Coldwell Banker, for France and other European countries. And since the Vigipirate plan went on high alert, it has received cancellations from American clients who had planned apartment tours in Paris.
Demand for rentals during the Olympics period has also slowed. “We had about 25 to 30 contracts (rental, editor’s note) which were awaiting signature, which we thought we would recover last week and which for the moment have not come back signed,” explains he at the microphone of Europe 1. So overall, between sales at a standstill and rental files put on hold, activity is showing a real slowdown, even if he hopes that the situation will improve. will unblock within a month: “Today this stand-by represents approximately 25% of our activity at the end of March and probably the first 15 days of April”.
Asian and American customers more worried
Laurent Demeure had already noted this wave of concern among international tourists in 2018 at the start of the yellow vest crisis. It’s a fairly classic tension effect, believes Jean-François Rial, CEO of the Voyageurs du Monde Group and member of the board of directors of the Paris Tourist Office. He has also observed some cancellations since last week.
“It’s a phenomenon that affects certain types of customers who are more anxious: Japanese and Asian customers in general and American customers. Some tourism professionals are worried, but in reality there is no real reason to “There will be cause for concern if between now and the Olympics there are attacks in France, attacks elsewhere in Europe and the jihadist threat increases,” he warns. In 2015, after the attacks of November 13, reservations fell by 30 to 40% in Parisian hotels and restaurants.
1712033051
#foreign #tourists #cancel #visit #due #risk #attack