Chocolate, beer: People fear attacks will hurt tourism

At the aptly named Planete Chocolat, the shelves were laden with enticing Easter treasures for shoppers: bunnies with bows, pastel-wrapped eggs and elegant boxes of pralines.

Swannee Vranckx, a clerk at the shop near Brussels' main square, said she would normally have seen 50 to 100 customers by midafternoon in the days before one of the biggest holidays of the Christian year. But after the bombing attacks that shattered the tranquillity of Belgium's capital, only a handful had come in search of Easter treats.

While the city's chocolatiers were quick to offer condolences to the victims of the tragedy, they are equally quick to express their concerns about the future. Their livelihoods depend on people from around the globe streaming into their shops to indulge in their world-famous goodies - and they know tourists don't go places they don't feel safe.