Europe’s travel and tourism industry is reeling again following the deadly terror attacks in Brussels yesterday. Three explosions, two which took place at the city’s main international airport and one at a subway station in central Brussels, left 31 people dead and another 270 injured. Belgium continues to mourn victims and the airport remains closed, but transport links in Brussels are up and running again as life begins to return to normal. Experience shows that countries can bounce back quickly from terrorist attacks, even if travel and tourism declines in the immediate aftermath, and business and consumer confidence suffers a temporary setback, writes CNN Money. Spain and the U.K. are proof that economic activity is fairly resilient to terrorist attacks. The number of tourists arriving in Spain recovered within weeks following the 2004 Madrid train bombings and there was no notable impact on arrivals to the U.K. after the 2005 London bombings, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. And with improved disaster planning and communication strategies, the hotel industry has also become more resilient to terrorism in recent years. That being said, travel firm Thomas Cook said its overall summer bookings to Europe are lower than this time last year. To read more, click here.
