Allianz Global Assistance reports that it has received 70 claims from U.S. travelers who want to cancel their trip to London following the recent terrorist attacks.
The report follows this weekend’s terrorist attack in London in which three men crashed a van into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge before jumping out and slashing people with knives, killing seven and injuring a dozen more. In late May, a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester became the deadliest terror attack on British soil since the 2005 London bombings when it killed 22.
Before the Manchester bombing, the travel insurance provider had released a study forecasting a rise in summer travel to London and Paris despite an earlier string of terrorist attacks. In that report, which was based on online airfare and package bookings for partners offering Allianz travel insurance for itineraries arriving in Europe May 29 through September 7, travel to London was forecast to rise 36.55 percent year over year, while travel to Paris was forecast to rise 28.77 percent.
The report of cancellations comes following a series of attacks in Europe. In addition to the attacks in London and Manchester, Tuesday a man wielding a hammer attacked a police officer outside Notre Dame in Paris. That attack is currently the subject of a terrorism investigation. Earlier this year, a gunman opened fire on a police van on Paris’ Champs Elysees with an automatic weapon, killing a French police officer and injuring two others. The gunman was then shot dead by security forces while attempting to flee.
Europe is currently under a travel alert from the U.S. State Department warning American citizens that terrorist continue to target tourist attractions, transit hubs, markets and shopping areas, and other “soft targets.” The alert is set to continue through the summer travel season, expiring September 1.
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