ABTA plays down ETA ‘terror warnings’

ABTA has played down a newspaper report about Spanish terror group ETA, which has reportedly sent a letter to a British tour operator warning that tourists would be targeted in a terror campaign this summer. A report in Sunday’s News of The World newspaper states that the letter, which warned of a new bombing campaign, said: “From now on Spain’s tourist interests will be in the front line of the struggle.” The newspaper goes on to state that “all travel agents” have been warned by Police, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and ABTA to look out for similar letters. Sean Tipton, of ABTA, however, told News From Abroad that this was not the case. He said: “ETA appears to send out a couple of these letters each year, and they clearly do it in a very haphazard fashion. They are clearly trying to intimidate the tourism industry rather than hurt people – they could clearly do that if they wanted to – and generally give plenty of warning if they do set off a bomb.” He said agents had not been warned, and said that while the FCO has updated its advice, the ETA initiative “is not a new thing”. The FCO website, at www.fco.gov.uk, mentions the warning and lists six ETA-related incidents last year. However, while stating that the vast majority of visits to Spain are “trouble-free”, it continues: “Given this active campaign and the millions of tourists who visit Spain each year, and although the security forces have had considerable success in arresting ETA terrorist groups, there is a chance that visitors will be caught up in further attacks in tourist areas. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad