Security persuades Chinese visitors to avoid France and neighbors

Travel bookings from China to western Europe are down by as much as a quarter in the year since multiple terror attacks in Paris killed 130 people, according to a travel industry analysis published on Monday.

Travel industry data specialist ForwardKeys said France was hard hit by a decline in bookings from the Asia-Pacific region in general. But neighbouring countries, including Italy and Germany, were also affected by a trend that coincided with heightened security concerns in Europe.

Bookings from China to France were down 23.4 percent, around the average for the Asia-Pacific region. Travel to Milan, Rome and Venice was also down by as much as a quarter. Chinese bookings to Istanbul, where more than 40 people were killed in a gun and bomb attack at Ataturk airport in June that was blamed on the so-called Islamic State, were off by as much as 27 percent.

Other countries benefited from a rise in bookings from China that could be attributed to travellers seeking to avoid potentially insecure destinations. The ForwardKeys analysis showed that destinations such as Moscow, London, Dublin or Manchester were seeing a higher interest from Chinese visitors.

That was partly due to security concerns, but in the case of the UK it was also linked to a fall in sterling of up to 20 percent since Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. The lower pound has made travel to Britain, and goods bought there, a more attractive proposition for Chinese and other visitors.

Visits from China to Britain were already up by 46 percent last year, moving it into Britain’s top 10 most valuable markets. ForwardKeys said earlier this month that flight bookings from China to the UK were up 24 percent for October to December.

Places seen as more secure destinations also included Copenhagen, up 14 percent, Helsinki (13.1 percent and Stockholm (12 percent). Moscow saw the biggest increase, 23 percent year-on-year, reflecting the Russian capital’s growing popularity with Chinese visitors and the downturn in bookings to France.

The writer is a senior editorial consultant for China Daily UK.

To contact the reporter: harvey.morris@gmail.com