Latest NY plane crash means more misery for industry

Hoteliers and restaurateurs are bracing themselves for a further business backlash following today's crash of an American Airlines jet in New York. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The Airbus A300 with 255 people on board crashed in the Queens area of the city at 9.17am, New York time.

It was flying out of New York to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

Initial reports pointed to a tragic accident rather than a terrorist attack as the cause of the crash, with witnesses saying they say an engine fall off before the aircraft plunged into the heavily populated area of the city.

Queens is located between the city's John F Kennedy and La Guardia airports and as such is home to a multitude of restaurants and hotels.

At the moment it is not clear whether any hotels or restaurants were directly damaged in the crash.

However, the disruption on both sides of the Atlantic to businesses already suffering following the September 11 attacks could be severe.

The crash came just as there were signs the hotel trade was beginning to recover from the effects of those attacks.

Last week Six Continents said the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks would cost it £17m, less than analysts in the City had feared.

Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said, whatever the cause of the this week's crash, there would be a serious impact, both in terms of short-term disruption and the longer term effect on incoming tourism from the USA.

The understandable reaction of American authorities to close all New York's airports would cause chaos over the next few days, just as it had after September 11, and was bad news for London hotels.

"Our reading was that things were beginning to get a bit better. London hotels were beginning to pick up.

"This sort of incident is bound to make things worse. Whatever caused it, it will not do the tourism and travel industry any good," he said.

The Hilton group said it was watching the situation closely and had set up an emergency information centre to help stranded tourists.

It was unclear what the longer-term impact would be on the confidence of the travelling public, said a spokesman.

"At the moment, our priority is looking after our staff and customers that have been affected by this," he added.

Both Six Continents and Marriott said they did not believe they had hotels in the area of the crash and were still assessing what the longer-term impact would be.

by Nic Paton