Dubai: Travel agents based in the UAE said on Wednesday that they had received cancellations of trips to Turkey for the Eid holidays, following the attack on Ataturk. “There are some cancellations to Turkey during Eid (Al Fitr),” said Kulwant Singh, managing director of Lama Tours in Dubai, adding that travel to Turkey after the Eid holidays could be affected.
“If there is another blast, then not only the Eid holidays will be affected, but also travel after the Eid holidays,” he said.
Premjit Bangara, general manager — travel at Sharaf Travel, said that bookings to Turkey from the UAE have been down so far this year, as the country faced a spate of attacks. Few UAE residents have booked to travel to Turkey for the Eid holidays, he said.
Turkey’s tourism industry has been suffering over the last year due to tensions with Russia over the downing of a Russian fighter plane and a string of bombings across the country, including areas popular with visitors.
Kinda Chebib, lead analyst at consultancy Euromonitor International, said in a statement that Turkey is suffering “in terms of arrivals performance and is experiencing a sustained decline in demand, with year-to-date 2016 negative growth of 10 per cent, following increased frequency of terrorist attacks”.
Tourism to Turkey plummeted 34.7 per cent year on year in May, with 2.49 million people arriving during the month, according to a Reuters report, citing data from the Tourism Ministry. It was the biggest drop in at least 22 years and the tenth consecutive month that numbers have fallen.
“After reaching $35 billion in total tourism revenues in 2014, Turkey’s tourism profits fell by 4.4 per cent to $12.29 billion in the third quarter of 2015,” Chebib said.
While a drop in visitor numbers to Turkey is expected in the next few days, Singh said that numbers will pick up quickly if the situation in the country stabilises.
“Numbers pick up quickly because of [Turkey’s] connectivity and it being one of the finest destinations for a long time,” he said.
