Terror attacks continue to plague European destinations, but that doesn't seem to be dampening tourism. At least, not much. Despite the many incidents over the last couple of years, including Monday's-horrific suicide bomber attack at Manchester Arena in the UK -tourism numbers are up in most countries.
Even for those in decline, such as France, they have seen visitor numbers reduced only slightly.
If ISIS is hoping to bring the world to a stop, it hasn't happened yet.
After the group's cowardly attack at an Ariana Grande concert on Monday, reports indicate that visitors are still determined to visit the country-and Europe as a whole.
"There is no fear to travel to England, Europe or anywhere else for that matter," said Greg Antonelle, managing director of Mickey Travel, LLC. "Sadly, we live in a world where this tragedy can occur anywhere. If it wasn't in Manchester, it could have been in New York City, Rome or Barcelona. If it didn't happen at a concert, it could have happened at a soccer match, movie premiere or at a political rally."
Margie Lenau of Wonderland Family Vacations echoed that sentiment: "I believe that after this confusion subsides, Americans will still travel to Great Britain, although more cautiously."
While there are concerns, vigilance is the most effective cure.
"Nobody we communicated with had any ideas of canceling their trip, and the prevailing thoughts were that they would be vigilant and move forward with excitement for their vacations," noted Antonelle.
However, while some travelers were still ready to go on vacation, a change of venue alleviated fears.
"Some of my clients are concerned enough to choose other destinations and wait to see what comes of this tragedy," noted Lenau.
Will this dampen forecasts of an improving tourism market across Europe? Maybe, but not by much.
According to a report in CNN Money, Euromonitor downgraded its forecast for travel growth in the U.K., lowering it from 5.1 percent to 4.9 percent. That's a difference of just 100,000 visitors.
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England has also just come off of a record-breaking tourism year in 2016.
Fueled by a more favorable exchange rate, U.S. visitors spent $4.4 billion in the UK-up 11 percent over the previous year. Clearly, the post-Brexit economy is driving a North American tourism boom there.
Overall visitation to Britain was also up 4 percent over 2015. The country received a total of 37.6 million visitors. Global spending increased as well, up 2 percent to nearly $30 billion.
Before the Manchester attack, VisitBritain was forecasting more than 38 million visits, and the country was already off to a strong start. Current numbers indicate that North America visits between January and March were up 17 percent compared to last year.
When reached for comment, VisitBritain's response echoed the sentiments of travelers: Tourism will not be stopped by terrorism.
"Tourism has proved itself to be a robust industry and the UK's strong response to and management of previous threats has reassured potential visitors," says VisitBritain. "Britain is open for business and welcoming visitors. We have seen record numbers of overseas visits to Britain this year and welcome many millions of visitors from all over the world every year who come to experience everything that our country has to offer."
While the forecast for another banner year of tourism may be out of the question, for now, it does seem that people are resilient when it comes to travel and that the worldwide industry is strong.
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