Christmas holiday travel is soaring in Europe as travellers defy government security warnings and admonitions to fly less in the name of saving the environment.
Reuters reports Christmas markets and popular tourist sites in cities such as Munich and Paris are being thronged by visitors, albeit with strong security presences, as holiday travel within the E.U. and including Britain was set to climb 22 percent above 2022 levels, according to travel data firm ForwardKeys.
The rising numbers defy cautions issued in late November by European security officials who warned of a growing risk of attacks tied to the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat from potential “lone wolf” assailants.
Airport facilities are also being targeted by protesters anxious to disrupt as many people as possible with their messages.
Pro-Palestinian protests at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at a sit-in demonstration between the airport terminals followed by a march outside of the building. Hundreds of local people, Palestinians and bystanders demonstrated in Schiphol Plaza. (Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Although this number is small, this could be an impact of the terrorism warning sent throughout Europe since the start of the recent conflict in Israel,” said Juan Gomez, an analyst at ForwardKeys as quoted by Reuters.
Christmas arrivals to places such as Italy, Austria and Sweden have also grown by 25 percent or more year-on-year.
As tourists flock to airport departure gates, France is one country amongst those telling flyers to travel less.
As Breitbart News reported, the French government published a decree in May banning domestic commercial airline flights for journeys possible in less than two-and-a-half hours by train.
Although the move was first included in a 2021 climate law and applied in practice, the Union of French Airports (UAF) as well as the European branch of the Airports Council International (ACI Europe) sought European Commission action to investigate whether it was legal.
It has now been passed into law.
The French ban on domestic commercial short-haul flights will be valid for three years after which it will be re-assessed.
No comparable decree for elite private jet travel on the same internal routes has yet been issued.