U.S. warns citizens of terror threat in Europe

U.S. warns citizens of terror threat in Europe

U.S. citizens were warned by the government to exercise vigilance and caution in traveling to Europe amid threats of a terror attack by a group linked to al Qaeda.

“Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests,” said the travel alert issued by the State Department.

The travel alert is one level lower than a travel warning, which would have advised against travel to Europe and negatively affect airline and hotel businesses.

Europe is the favorite foreign destination for Americans, with 12 million of them going there and spending $20 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department.

“There may be a little dip in bookings, especially on the leisure side,” said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition based in Pennsylvania.

“All bets are off if the threat is more specific or, God forbid, something happens,” Mitchell added.

The decision to issue a travel alert was done after careful consideration of the “cumulative effect of all types of information” regarding a potential attack, according to Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy.

Eiffel Tower, a popular tourist attraction in Paris, has already been evacuated twice in the last three weeks due to the threats.

Kennedy emphasized that the travel alert advises Americans to “take every precaution” while traveling but are “not, not, not” advising them to cancel European travel while the alert is in effect until January of next year.

The United Kingdom raised its terror warning for France and Germany. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department have not issued a travel alert but said that it is “closely monitoring the situation in Europe.”

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Monday October 04 2010, 2:30 PM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0