Holiday bookings to Turkey plunge 40% amid terror fears
HOLIDAYMAKERS are avoiding Turkey for their sunny getaways as fears of a terrorist attack has seen bookings plummet 40 per cent.
Holiday bookings to Turkey have plunged
Thomson and First Choice owner TUI revealed their shocking figures today, which follow a dramatic drop in sales to Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.
Last month a suspected ISIS bombing killed 10 people in Istanbul, in the latest of a spate of blasts in the city and across the country.
All of those who died were German tourists, heavily denting German holiday bookings to Turkey, said TUI.
Sun searchers are instead opting for holidays in Spain and the Canary island, according to the travel giant.
Friedrich Joussen, chief executive of TUI, said: "It is evident that there has been a significant shift in demand away from Turkey, with summer 2016 bookings to that destination currently down around 40 per cent.”
Bombs killed 10 tourists in Istanbul last month
Turkey has suffered a number of terrorist attacks in recent weeks
In a previous update TUI said Sharm el-Sheikh was like a 'ghost town' after terrorists blew up a Russian plane leaving the resort.
The firm has 13 hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the resort accounting for half of its business in Egypt.
The Tunisian beach killings and Paris atrocities last year also hit travel bookings, according to travel and airline firms.
TUI took a £37.6 million hit from the Sousse massacres and former joint chief executive Peter Long said in December it had been "the most tragic event that I've ever had to deal with in my 30 years in the industry".
Now the outbreak of Zika threatens to dampen demand further.
It's thought the virus could damage customer appetite for holidaying in the Caribbean, after Jamaica announced it had been infected by the virus.
Yet TUI said it had got off to a good start to its financial year and kept its guidance for a 10 per cent rise in annual underlying earnings.
Mr Joussen added: "We have delivered a good underlying performance in the first quarter in spite of the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence in some of our destinations."