Terrorist attacks in Paris: impact on the hotel industry

3 min reading time

Published on 16/11/15 - Updated on 29/06/23

Paris

Ten months after the attacks on January 7, Paris has once again fallen victim to terrorism. On the evening of November 13, seven locations in the capital were attacked by kamikazes and gunmen, leaving at least 129 according to the last official report. The event deals another blow to tourism and Paris's hotels just a few weeks before the year-end festivities.

As Paris's tourism professionals look on as cancellations come in and visitors leave early, MKG Hospitality is seeing a significant drop in hotel performances in the capital in the aftermath of the murderous attacks on it. The occupancy rate fell by 20.8 and 23.1 points on the nights of Saturday and Sunday, pulling the Revenue per available room (RevPAR) down with it. It dropped 21.1% Saturday and 28.5% Sunday.



Change in daily results in Paris
from November 9 to 15, 2015



The impact of Friday's terrorist attacks on the industry appears much stronger than after the attacks on January 7, 2015. After the terrorist attacks in January, the occupancy rate did not drop by more than 2.7 and 2.8 points on January 9 and 10, for a drop in RevPAR by 8.5% and 6.6% respectively. The drop in activity   then continued for two weeks, with the RevPAR dropping by up to 25% on some days. Hotel performances in the capital then rose back, mostly driven by business and events activities. Some lag could be felt in leisure tourism, which resulted in a drop in hotel indicators on weekends.

The impact of Friday's attacks on the tourism assume another facet of importance: in just two weeks the Conference on Climate Change will be held in Paris from November 30 to December 11, and then year-end festivities generally generate high volumes of business in the capital's hotels.

"More than Paris, it is a symbol of the Western lifestyle that was attacked by the terrorists. This means that it is the entire civilized community that has been affected and must react," explains Georges Panayotis, "Tourism activity due at the end of the year was wiping out the negative impact of January's attacks. This is another hard blow to the hotel business in the capital, and we may begin to wonder what real benefit is expected from the arrival of the delegations for  COP21. Parisian tourism has already risen out of dramatic  situations and security measures will be strengthened."

Also read:



  • Paris attacks: Hospitality takes a hit, but is expected to stand strong
  • Paris: Terrorist attacks continue to raise concern in the hotel industry
  • Activity in Paris, the after shock of the terrorist attacks is dwindling




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