The BSE-500 index, representing almost 85 percent of the Bombay Stock Exchange’s market value, fell 0.5 percent to 3,265.12 at 11:42 a.m. local time. Jet Airways (India) Ltd. and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. tumbled. The rupee dropped 0.9 percent from the close on Nov. 26 to 49.875 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Markets were shut yesterday.

ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest lender, fell 0.5 percent to 348.7 rupees. Tata Steel Ltd., India’s biggest maker of the alloy, and owner of the Taj group fell 2.6 percent to 151.4 rupees.

Jet Airways, the nation’s largest domestic airline, fell as much as 7.1 percent to 128 rupees and changed hands at 132.4 rupees at 10:44 a.m. in the city. Kingfisher, the second largest, tumbled as much as 10.4 percent.

Indian Hotels Ltd., which runs the Taj hotel chain, plunged 13 percent, on course for the biggest drop since May 2006. EIH Ltd., which owns the Oberoi hotels, sank 4.5 percent.

And those represent just the tip of the financial iceberg. There are many other impacts.

It’s terrible for the innocent victims who lost their lives, for Mumbai which has lost its reputation, for Taj and Oberoi, for Indian tourism interests, the hotel workers and the wider ring of people who benefit when tourism works all have lost livelihoods and the opportunity of work. In some way or the other these malicious attacks have hundreds of thousands of victims.

And it’s simply gutting that we’ve heard it all before, notably, in the last few years – Kenya and Lebanon, also world performers on the tourism stage, have had their hard-won tourism industries devastated by violence for years to come.

UNWTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli condemned the series of deadly terrorist attacks, in a letter to India’s Tourism Minister saying

“Please accept my condolences for the dastardly attacks in Mumbai and for the tragic loss of life that has occurred. I want to put at your disposal all UNWTO resources in any way that may be of assistance to you.”

Is this enough? What more can our industry do to guard against and prepare for these actions?

Concerted action is called for.

Valere Tjolle