Terrorists Scare Away Travelers

The recent terrorist and military attacks in Europe have had a "disastrous effect" on the travel industry, according to local travel agents contacted this week.

In addition, travel agencies have refrained from actively encouraging vacations to Europe, and some warn travellers of the possible dangers. Agents said families are instead planning summer trips to parts of North America and the Far East.

Clesta Challas, president on the New England division of the American Society of Travel Agents and owner of Rainbow Travel in Belmont, said would-be travellers are cancelling reservations in "significant numbers" in reaction to the series of attacks on Americans in Europe.

Challas said he doesn't want to make anyone go where they would be uneasy, although he said he believes there is no real danger to Americans tourists.

"Last year, over seven million people flew to Europe. If you compare the number of terrorist casualties, it's insignificant," Challas said.

But several other local agencies said that the fear of European travel persists, especially among families with small children.

Roberta Salzburg, of Overseas Travel in Cambridge, said that although many people have called her office with concerns about the possible dangers of European travel, only three have cancelled their reservations.

"England, Belgium, the Scandinavian countries are all relatively safe," she said. "Those countries are really taking precautions. They need the tourist business."

Security in many European airports has been increased, and flights have been rerouted to avoid vulnerable airports, travel agents said. TWA, whose planes have been the targets of two terrorist attacks, has cancelled all service between the Rome, Athens and Cairo airports.

Although the airline increased its own security precautions, it has not attempted to publicize these efforts. "We don't want to emphasize the problem," said TWA spokesman Bill Brown. He said that although the company is in no grave financial danger, it is adding flights to Alaska and Hawaii to its route schedule.

Some local agencies said they are confident that they can continue to do do business as usual. Mike Yaniv of Ram Travel, a company specializing in tours to Israel, said that people are "uncertain" about travel but will go anyway. "There's no Rome in America," he says.

Salzburg has scheduled a personal trip to Brussels in two weeks, but other agents are more cautious. A worker at a cruise charter agency said that although clients "have no right to my personal opinion," she would not consider going to Europe this summer because she "values her life."