Terrorist attacks have cost Paris nearly $1 billion in tourism revenue

[ALS]

Islamist attacks have scared off thousands of tourists from Paris and its top attractions, helping rob the region of about 750 million euros ($850 million) in revenues, officials said on Tuesday.

Strikes and floods have also taken their toll, overshadowing the boost from the Euro 2016 soccer championships and leaving the tourism industry in need of massive new investment and a rescue package, they added.

"It's time to realize that the tourism sector is going through an industrial disaster," the head of the Paris region tourist board, Frederic Valletoux, said in a statement.

Visitors to the Arc de Triomphe fell more than a third in the first half of 2016 from the same period a year earlier, the board added.

The Grand Palais museum reported a 43.9 percent slump and the Palace of Versailles, outside the city, just short of 20 percent.

"Hotels are already laying off staff though they're not saying it. This industry is on its knees and it needs relief measures now. Hoteliers need the arms to fight back," Georges Panayotis, head of hotel research firm MKG group, told Reuters.


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