Summer bookings are up 3% in Barcelona. Pictured: Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Batllo (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
There’s an interesting report out this week that shows how the recent terror attacks in Brussels have affected summer travel bookings to Europe.
Some cities are faring just fine. But others have taken a big hit according to a report by ForwardKeys, a company that uses big data to predict future travel bookings.
While advance bookings for summer trips as of March 29 are down 5% overall, some European cities will actually see more visitors this summer. The data show higher bookings in Amsterdam (+1%), Madrid (+2%) and Barcelona (+3%).
But other cities won’t fare as well. For example, bookings to Istanbul are down a painful 36%. In Brussels, they are down 24%, and Paris is down 13%.
The report states, “The bomb attacks in Brussels have severely affected flight bookings to the Belgium capital. In the days following the attacks on 22 March, net bookings – new bookings minus cancellations – fell by 136% when compared with last year.” By comparison, bookings to Paris dropped 101% in the aftermath of the attacks there last year.
Related: Worst summer ever for European trips? Or the best?
(Chart: Forward Data SL)
Read the full report (PDF) from ForwardKeys here.
How have the terror attacks in Europe affected your desire or willingness to travel there? Please leave your comments below.
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It hasn’t changed my plans. We went to Paris between the most recent attacks there and had no issues. As long as you welcome security measures and plan for it it should be no problem overall. I do think some countries will have issues like Turkey and Greece. Most of this will be reflective of people living there and financial issues though.
I usually vacation in Berlin each year, but this year I decided to skip it. Am going to Vienna instead, but will still be very circumspect about my movements. Will probably take Uber everywhere and skip public transportation. And that’s a shame, because Vienna has this terrific new train (the CAT) from the airport to downtown in 16 short minutes. And, astonishingly, I was able to use my miles to book the flight on Lufthansa from San Francisco, which until the Brussels bombing has had really rotten flight availability for business/first flights from SFO to FRA or MUC.