Will tourism suffer after London attack?

By Hannah Edensor

The London terror attack on Wednesday, which saw four people plus the attacker killed and many more injured, has left the world wondering if it’s still safe to travel.

But given the important role tourism plays worldwide, and in London especially, experts believe it won’t actually bring any long-lasting impacts.

The attack on Westminster Bridge and Parliament House was captured in media around the world, when British-born Khalid Masood ran pedestrians down in a car before going on a stabbing spree and killing a police officer.

An Australian resident – originally from Germany – who was in London was also among the injured.

But according to USA Today, travel experts are convinced tourists will continue visiting the popular British city.

“We do not expect this isolated incident to have an impact on people’s decision to travel to the country nor its capital,” said David Scowsill, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

“England and London specifically are very resilient tourism destinations.”

The attack comes off the back of new electronics bans onboard a number of airlines and flights into the US, after a laptop bomb attempted to blow up a plane.

It’s particularly interesting given travel insurance is unlikely to cover theft or damages of checked-in electronics, but that’s another story.

Per USA Today, a former US Army officer who is CEO of Densus Group, which provides expertise in security and technology to public and private organisations, John Poncy, said he would still travel to London, although might not encourage his daughter to visit.

“People are going to look at it and say that it may not be the best time,” Poncy said.

“I don’t care if you’re on the beach in Nice – there is no place immune from this,” Poncy said of a French resort where a truck plowed through a crowd last July, killing dozens and injuring hundreds.

But according to BR Proud, Olivier Jager, CEO of travel intelligence firm ForwardKeys, claimed London’s tourism economy could be under a real threat.

“I think we will see an obvious and quite logical situation of travelers changing their trip plans,” Jager said.

However he said if authorities could prove it was an isolated incident, they’d have more chance of restoring the tourism levels.

“We’ll need to give it a couple of days to see if this might truly impact inbound London [travel],” he said. “I think travellers are a little bit more used to the fact that these things might happen.”

George Hobica, founder of airfarewatchdog.com, also told USA Today that the London attack “will have no long-term effect” on tourism, although it could suffer a small dip in the immediate aftermath.

“After all, tourism is way up to London in the days since the IRA bombings. It always recovers,” Hobica said.

“Any city could experience a similar attack so I don’t think people will pull the blankets over their heads and stay quivering in bed.”

Image: Business Insider

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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