The latest terrorist event in Istanbul is already shaping the first indications of tourist destinations booking trend, across the Mediterranean this year:
“Go West” is the first finding, that is primarily Spain and secondarily Portugal are taking the lead right now in bookings among major European markets, such as Germany and Britain.
Turkey will be the big loser of the year with Egypt and Tunisia following closely.
Turkey also has a problem with Russia and can not affect its image by low pricing this year.
Will it be able to restore a climate of confidence among tourists by adopting safety measures?
The answer shall determine the extent of its fall this year.
Greece retains its positive growth rates, but moderately so. Obviously, if things go smoothly in our country, the growth rate will increase as we get closer to the tourist season.
As DER Touristik CEO S?ren Hartmann correctly predicted a month ago, “insecurity” is the Tourism virus of this year as Syria, ISIS and terrorism all seem to be problems without immediate solutions.
Do not forget that during 2015 and until now, 20 terrorist attacks occurred in tourist destinations and have, in fact, imposed a climate of fear on the average citizen .
“Insecurity is a bad travel companion,” Mr. Hartmann had stressed, “demand will decline generally, and above all this is likely to have an impact on the Eastern Mediterranean.”
Let’s just hope that in our country, there will be no events that will instill fear to the visitor…
