The attack that left 38 dead on the beach in Sousse in Tunisia last Friday
triggered a wave of cancellations for stays booked in July. As for French tour operators, the Seto union reported Monday from 25% to 50% destination change requests for bookings made by July, a total of some 50,000 records (overall, all channels).
The Union of French travel agencies (SNAV) said for his part told AFP register for July - about 8,000 to 10,000 travel reservation records with hotel - "80% of cancellations and requests for another destination ", usually for Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Spain, according to Jean-Pierre Mas, President of SNAV.
It is, at present, only estimates. "It is still premature to provide figures," cautions a nearby source. By Saturday, thousands of foreign tourists had left the country earlier than expected, dealing a further blow to tourism already at the penalty after the previous attack of Bardo Museum in Tunis (21 tourists killed) in March.
Reports toll
The Snav and French Seto recommended Friday night tourism professionals allow deferrals no charge for customers leaving for Tunisia who would not go there, or go later, provided they occur before 10 July. These reports are valid "for the next 12 months," to
Tunisia or wherever.
Before the attack, which occurred just days before the launch of the summer season, bookings for Tunisia from France showed already at the end of May a strong behind in terms of bookings for the summer, to -37.7% compared with May 2014, according to figures from the Seto. As for French travel agencies, the data was not as fun as Tunisia already recorded between January and May a cumulative decline of
40% of reservations in terms of passengers and 42% in business volume.
Cancelling travel in Belgium
Elsewhere in Europe, the trend is the decline in bookings to Tunisia. In Belgium, the tour operator Neckermann, subsidiary of Thomas Cook, has decided to cancel trips until late August, following the amendment to the notice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against travel now in this country. "More than 15,000 travelers" are concerned.
The other major tour operator active in Belgium, Jetair, suspended his stays in Tunisia until the end of July, which corresponds to "thousands" of cancellations, said Monday his spokeswoman, adding that "nearly 1,200 vacationers have returned to Belgium "since Friday.
In Germany, the TUI Group, the industry, said Monday it has received "500 rebooking requests since Friday," but does not wish to disclose the total number of bookings he earned this summer.
At Der Touristik, number two German, the attack had an impact on departures weekend to Tunisia as "about a traveler on two flew," said a spokesman. The group had a total of "several thousand reservations" for July and August, reported Monday 400 cancellations or changes to bookings. "The numbers (attendance) were down after the attack in March but had now recovered. The demand resumed for Tunisia, (...) but was again reduced to zero at once, "said the spokesman.
"Net impact on the number of British tourists"
On the side of the United Kingdom, no data on the number of canceled trips were available Monday, but the tour operators Thomson and First Choice reported repatriated a total of "more than 4,000 customers since Friday," not counting those traveling by their own.
"What happened is so terrible that there will be a net impact on the number of British tourists visiting Tunisia, and those who have already booked to think twice before leaving," said the spokesman Word of the Association of British Tour Operators (Abta). The Foreign Office Saturday modified its recommendations for tourists visiting Tunisia and advises against all travel to the south and west.
For Mr. Chikli of Seto, "the biggest evil it is the non-bookings, while the market for the last minute is ruined. As for tourists who were to leave Tunisia without a tour, their holidays are damned because there is no cancellation or refund possible. " In Tunisia, tourism accounts for about 7% of GDP and some 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.
