Following the recent turn of events in Turkey, the outlook for travel and tourism demand in the country is likely to be impacted in the short to medium term, said Nadejda Popova, Travel Project manager, Euromonitor International.

“The recent political events in Turkey will be catastrophic for its travel industry. Several terrorist attacks, failed political coup as well as the collapse of the Turkey – Russia relations will be detrimental for the recovery of its tourism industry. Fear factor amongst tourists and high level of uncertainty are expected to shift the interest of travellers from Turkey to other destinations, which will now also include travel away from Europe," she said.

In 2015 the country registered 34.7 million international arrivals in terms of number of trips however; this performance is expected to be heavily impacted by the events in 2016.

According to the latest UNWTO Barometer, international arrivals to Turkey have declined by 10 per cent in Q1 2016 and this performance will be further aggravated by the recent events. These events are changing the perceptions among travellers of how safe for travelling the country is, which could continue mid to long term if adequate security measures are not taken by the Turkish government.
 
"Short term, the market will suffer direly from those events, but with the right approach by the government, proving the strengthened security and reassuring tourists, it could recover faster than we can now foresee. However as this is not the first incident in the country this year these events will cause a much longer term impact on the industry. As seen from examples in the Middle East such as Tunisia, one isolated attack cannot cripple the entire industry, but repetitive attacks will definitely prevent the development of the tourism industry. Big travel players such as Tui and Thomas Cook are already recording a significant decline in bookings to Turkey of over 35 per cent which of course showcases that demand is very low and travellers are shifting their holiday plans to other destinations,” she concluded. - TradeArabia News Service