European travel firms see stocks fall after Paris attack

European travel and leisure firms saw around €2.6 billion  (£1.8 billion) wiped off their stock prices on Monday as a result of the Paris terror attacks.

Gondola’s in San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice Image by Matt Munro/Lonely Planet

Investor fears that the tourist market will freeze in Europe saw falls in major London-listed travel stocks such as 3% falls in Thomson holiday owner TUI and British Airways owner International Airlines Group. Cruise ship firm Carnival also fell 2%.

While in continental Europe, French hotel group Accor fell by more than 6%, while Air France KLM tumbled 5% and Eurotunnel slipped 4.5%. The falls came amid an already weak market, which slumped to a six-week low on Friday as traders worried about China’s economic slowdown, lower oil prices and the prospect of a US rate hike next month.

CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said: “It seems likely there will be more air strikes and more attacks like those seen in Paris, which has the potential to be an ongoing source of unease for markets.

“European markets had opened lower in the first hour or so of trading today, but recovered in London led by heavyweight mining stocks.

Germany’s DAX and France’s Cac 40 were flat in late afternoon trading after having opened 1% down. The FTSE 100 Index was just up on  afternoon, after having opened slightly down. However, travel stocks were shunned by traders throughout the session.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “While not wanting to second-guess the effect of the events of the weekend, the closure of France’s borders, along with other security measures, the impact on consumer confidence could well be considerable in the coming days and weeks.”

The Colosseum, Rome. Image by Bert Kaufmann / CC BY-SA 2.0

Tony Cross, a market analyst at Trustnet Direct, said travel firms in particular faced an uncertain week as investors worry about the knock-on effects of the attacks will have on the travel industry.

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