Paris terror attacks: Number of empty hotel beds in city has soared after Bataclan massacre

'There’s some very good offers and deals around for Paris at the moment. I think that December will be strong for Paris and let’s hope that it continues into 2017'

Heightened security following last year’s terror attacks is mirrored by tourists’ continuuing reluctance to visit the French capital (Getty)

The Paris terror attacks in November last year appear to have dramatically reduced the number of tourists visiting the city, with the number of empty hotel beds on an average night in the French capital up by 65 per cent.

The slump in demand has led to price cuts, with the average Paris hotel room at €236 (about £200) – 3.1 per cent cheaper than they were before the terrorists attacks, at the Bataclan theatre and elsewhere in the city, which killed 130 people.

The Independent has analysed figures provided by the global hotel data specialist, STR, for the first nine months of 2016 compared with the same spell last year.

Between January and September 2015, a period that included the Charlie Hebdo attack in January last year, average occupancy was strong at 81.3 per cent. But this year it has fallen to 69.1 per cent.

Revenue per available room (RevPAR), the standard industry measure, fell by over 15 per cent. Employment has been hit as a consequence, with hoteliers cutting their labour costs by 7.8 per cent.

Tourist-dependent enterprises had hoped that Euro 2016, the football tournament hosted in June and July would boost performance, but this did not materialise.

Thomas Emanuel, business development director for STR, said: “It’s become quite clear that the most important factor in the market’s recovery will be time.”

Terry Williamson, chief executive of the hotel booking firm JacTravel, told The Independent that there are already signs of improvement: “It looks as though the Paris market is recovering. There’s some very good offers and deals around for Paris at the moment.

“I think that December will be strong for Paris and let’s hope that it continues into 2017.”

Mr Williamson said that Brussels and Istanbul, which have also suffered terrorist attacks, had had a “very difficult” year.

Figures from STR show both the Belgian capital and Turkey’s largest city suffered sharp falls in revenue per available room: Brussels was down 23 per cent and Istanbul down 41 per cent.

Double rooms at one of Istanbul’s top hotels, the Hilton Bomonti, are available at just £80 per night. Similar rooms at the Hilton Park Lane in London cost £299.

Last month, the US government ordered the families of diplomats in Istanbul to leave “based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack US citizens".

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