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* Uniqlo had already restricted travel to Bangladesh inOctober
* Dhaka hotels see cancellations, embassies may trimstaffing
* Japanese building firms tell staff to stay indoors (Adds comments from Accord on Fire and Building Safety inBangladesh, foreigners living in Bangladesh, paragraphs 10-11,1721)
By Abhirup Roy, Promit Mukherjee and Chang-Ran Kim
MUMBAI/TOKYO, July 4 (Reuters) - Foreign companies withnationals working in Bangladesh's garment and buildingindustries have suspended travel to the country and told workersthere to stay at home after a deadly attack by Islamistmilitants on a restaurant in Dhaka on Friday.
The hospitality sector is also seeing cancellations, hotelsare tightening security and foreign embassies are looking atreducing staffing after the attack claimed the lives of nineItalians, seven Japanese, an American, an Indian and someBangladeshi nationals.
Fast Retailing Co, the Japanese owner of the Uniqlocasual-wear brand, said it would suspend all but critical travelto Bangladesh and had told staff there to stay indoors.
Bangladesh's $26 billion garment industry has been bracingfor the fallout of Friday's killings, fearing major retailersfrom Uniqlo to Marks and Spencer and Gap couldrethink their sourcing plans after the latest attack targetingforeigners.
One of the world's poorest countries, Bangladesh relies ongarments for around 80 percent of its exports and for about 4million jobs, and ranks behind only China as a supplier ofclothes to developed markets like Europe and the United States.
Uniqlo has 10 Japanese staff in Bangladesh, one of its majorproduction hubs outside China, and was among the first toconfirm it would tighten travel restrictions already in placeafter attacks last year. A spokeswoman said all but criticaltravel was suspended.
"Obviously this is generating a lot of concern with all thebrands my company works with," said Shovon Islam, the head ofSparrow Group, which supplies top brands like Marks and Spencerand Gap.
He said that after a foreigner was killed in Bangladesh lastyear, some overseas companies pared back travel to the countryand asked for meetings to be held in Bangkok, New Delhi and HongKong instead.
"This time the intensity of the threat is much higher and wewill definitely see companies altering their plans," Islam said.
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, agroup of mostly European retailers, said it would reviewsecurity measures for its staff in Bangladesh.
While it is too early to say whether the group's signatorieswill shift production out of Bangladesh, it may affect travelrestrictions for buyers coming to Bangladesh, a spokesman forthe group said.
'HEARTBREAKING'
"There'll definitely be an impact on the garment industry,"said Sudhir Dhingra, head of Orient Craft, based in the Indiancity of Gurgaon. "I was just speaking to a top label which saidits official who was supposed to visit Bangladesh to inspect anorder has refused to go."
Bangladesh garment exporters who dealt with some of thosekilled in Friday's attack were still coming to terms with whathad happened. "I was doing business with six of the nineItalians who died. It's shocking and heartbreaking," said MeshbaUddin Ali, managing director of Wega Fashion Sweater Pvt Ltd.
Amos Ho, a senior manager at Pou Chen, one of the world'slargest makers of trainers for brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma, said: "We've urged our employeesto be cautious. They have to pay attention to their personalsafety."
Industry analysts have suggested clothing brands mayconsider shifting out of Bangladesh to less unsettled countriesin Asia, such as Cambodia and Sri Lanka. No major companies haveyet signalled official plans.
"There are no plans on changing any sourcing, but we arefollowing developments closely," Sweden's H & M said ina statement on Sunday echoed by other big retailers.
Several others companies, including French retail groupAuchan Holding, German clothing company Kik Textilienand European family-owned clothing retailer C&A, said they weremonitoring the situation closely but had not made any plans tostop working in the country.
Two foreign nationals who live in Bangladesh and work in thegarments business said the attack could scuttle plans forbusiness travel.
"I have so many big brands I do business with and in thelast 48 hours, they've all called me. They're afraid, they'rescared," said Robert, an American who has lived in Bangladeshfor seven years. He did not wish to disclose his last name orthe name of his firm.
The foreigners said, however, said they personally did notintend to leave, noting that such attacks were not restricted toBangladesh.
"In the last month, I went to Italy, Belgium, Germany,Amsterdam. If you look at where I went last month, where wasthere not a problem that's not equal to Bangladesh? Even USA,"said Robert.
REDUCING STAFFING
Both the United States and British embassies in Bangladeshmay reduce staff numbers, one diplomatic source said, and askonly essential staff to stay on.
Japanese construction companies Obayashi Corp andShimizu Corp, both with more than a dozen employeesworking on bridge projects in Bangladesh, said they advisedstaff to stay indoors.
At least two five-star hotels in Dhaka, which caterprimarily to business clients, said they had seen a spike incancellations since Friday's attack.
"Whenever people book, it's usually within two or three daysof their visit to Dhaka, and now nobody is doing any bookings atall," said a source at one of the hotels, noting this week istypically quiet because of the upcoming Eid celebrations. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Additional reporting bySaqib Iqbal Ahmed and Jarrett Renshaw in New York, Ethan Lou inToronto, Faith Hung in Taipei and Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai;Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Peter Cooney)
