NEWS 1
Bookings for the French capital plummeted in the week after the massacre
YOU NEED TO KNOW
at a glance
l There were 50% fewer passenger bookings to Paris in the week to November 21.
l There have been 26% fewer holiday bookings for mid-haul destinations, with Egypt and Tunisia accounting for most of the decline.
l Flight bookings to Paris were 27% down at the start of this week, with cancellations 21% up.
l International Airlines Group suffered a fall in demand immediately after the attacks.
Paris bookings halve as travel sales shrink by 15%
Amie Keeley and Ian Taylor
Travel agents suffered a 50% drop in passenger bookings to Paris amid a “dramatic” fall in flight bookings in the week following the massacre in the French capital on November 13.
Latest leisure travel market data
from GfK also revealed that total bookings for all destinations in the week to last Saturday were 15% down year on year. Mid-haul destinations suffered the sharpest fall, with 26% fewer holidays booked. Egypt and Tunisia accounted for most of the decline. Industry data analyst
ForwardKeys reported airline bookings to Paris down 27% at the start of this week, while
cancellations rose 21% year on year in the week to November 21. ForwardKeys chief executive
Oliver Jago said: “There were last- minute cancellations of immediate travel plans, predominantly among business travellers. New bookings have also dropped dramatically.” International Airlines Group
chief executive Willie Walsh said: “It’s natural these appalling events would make people consider their travel plans. We did see a fall [in demand] in the immediate aftermath.” But he told the Airport
Operators Association conference in London on Monday: “I don’t see this having a medium-term impact on the industry. What gives people confidence are the measures they see being taken in response.” EasyJet UK director Sophie
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travelweekly.co.uk 26 November 2015
“Terrorism is causing disruption and it’s out of our control. I can’t see anything but more disruption”
Deckers said: “We see some significant trading challenges, after Paris and Egypt. There is a general nervousness.” Holiday flights to Egypt appear
unlikely to resume this year after easyJet and BA cancelled services to Sharm el-Sheikh until January and Monarch boss Andrew Swaffield warned it would take at least nine months for demand to return. Swaffield urged the government
to “strike a balance” between stopping flights and not giving the terrorists what they want. “We
l Monarch boss Andrew Swaffield urged the government to “strike a balance” between stopping flights and not giving the terrorists what they want.
l Hays Travel boss John Hays said he could see only more disruption for the sector.
need to have an eye to the fact that markets are being closed down by terrorism,” he said. “We have to find a way to operate
in a world that is less safe, without just stopping operations. We must get markets open again otherwise we’re saying to the terrorists ‘you can wipe out an entire industry’.” John Hays, managing director
of Hays Travel, admitted that he doesn’t know what the future holds in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris and Egypt. Speaking at the Hays Travel IG
conference in Portugal, he said: “[Terrorism] is causing disruption and it’s out of our control. I can’t see anything but more disruption. How scared will a UK holidaymaker be, especially in the key January
period? It’s a concern for all of us.” › Hays IG Conference, page 20
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