Louvre attack: New shock for French tourism

France’s standing as a traveller magnet took another strike Friday after a male wielding a machete was shot in Paris.

French authorities have non-stop a apprehension review after a man, who rushed a organisation of soldiers, was shot in an subterraneous piazza that adjoins a Louvre museum.

The occurrence follows a fibre of high-profile militant attacks that have deterred tourists from visiting a country, including a summer conflict in Nice that left during slightest 85 people dead.

France has been in an central state of emergency given a Nov 2015 attacks in Paris, that left during slightest 130 people dead.

The latest information from a UN’s World Tourism Organization uncover general caller numbers to France fell by about 5% in a initial 9 months of 2016. If travelers continue to shun France in preference of other destinations, it could shortly be overtaken by a United States as a world’s many renouned traveller destination.

Traveler spending in a nation also slumped 6.6% in 2016 following a dump of 5.4% in 2015, according to rough information from a UNWTO. Spending in 2016 is approaching to be significantly reduce than a new rise of $58 billion in 2014.

Paris is among a 5 many visited general cities in a universe with some-more than 15 million general tourists any year, according to investigate organisation Euromonitor International.

And a Louvre, with a famed potion pyramid entrance, is among a many renouned museums in a world.

However, Louvre assemblage has depressed by 21% over a past dual years. Just 7.3 million people visited a museum in 2016 compared to 9.3 million in 2014.

Museum officials contend a decrease is “primarily due to a consequences of a apprehension attacks in 2015 and 2016 and to a museum’s four-day closure during a flooding of a Seine in early Jun of 2016.”

Related: Barcelona perplexing to tame tourism crunch

The latest occurrence is generally bad news for Parisian hotels, that have been charity deals to captivate in travelers.

About 45% of tourism spending in a city goes towards accommodation, a aloft suit than any other vital traveller destination, according to information from MasterCard.

— Laura Goehler, Lindsay Isaac and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.

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