Recent terrorist attacks in Western Europe are a major concern for Chinese tourists, and many have chosen to cancel their trips to the region, the manager of a major Chinese travel agency told the Global Times on July 19. 

A truck plowed into a crowd of pedestrians at the waterfront Promenade des Anglais on Thursday night in Nice, as a fireworks display marking the French National Day ended, Reuters reported. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 84.  

In the wake of the incident in Nice, a popular tourist destination in the south of France, more and more Chinese tourists have begun to opt out of including France in their European travel plans, Xu Xiaolei, manager of marketing at China CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Tuesday. “In general, the number of tourists traveling to the countries affected will decline for one to two months after such attacks,” Xu said, noting that he has seen the number of trips [to countries such as France and Belgium] slashed by about 30 percent compared to the same period in 2015. 

“These unexpected events have led to increased uncertainty, which is seen as cancer for the tourism industry,” Xu added. 

Before the terrorist attacks hit Paris in both January and November of 2015, the most frequent question from Chinese tourists was how best to protect their belongings from pickpockets while abroad, he noted. “But now, everyone wants to know if they should cancel their trip to Paris, and whether it is safe to travel there,” Xu said. 

“We have introduced ‘an emergency system’ including sending notices to travelers as soon as any incident occurs and helping cancel their trips without any charges,” Xu noted. 

Other domestic travel agencies have also come up with contingency plans for protecting their customers from danger. During the attempted Turkish military coup at the end of last week, Chinese online leisure travel firm Tuniu Corp had 95 customers in Turkey, according to a document the company sent to the Global Times on July 19. Their safety remains the company's top priority, and it continued to advise travelers to stay indoors, the document noted. 

Meanwhile, 50 customers have booked trips to Turkey through the company's website with departure dates prior to July 22, and any customer choosing to cancel their trip will receive a full refund, the company added. For those choosing to continue their travels as planned, itineraries are also likely to be adjusted according to the situation on the ground.

On July 18 night local time, a teenage Afghan refugee armed with an axe and knife injured four people on a train in southern Germany before being shot dead by police, BBC reported.