British tour operators: Plans to slash Turkey programme by 50% in wake of coup

Tourism to Turkey looks likely to slump dramatically for the remainder of 2016, with one operator admitting to TTG it was expecting to slash its programme by half next year.

It comes after the weekend’s deadly coup which left 232 people dead, and saw the FCO upgrade its advice warning Brits to stay inside, as passenger flights were grounded.

Classic Collection’s deputy managing director Matt Rice said the lack of demand for the destination fuelled by the ongoing turmoil in the country could lead the company to downscale its 2017 operations.

“We are going to keep operating [in Turkey] but more than likely we will have to reduce our programme, probably by about 50% of our hotels, for next year,” Rice said. 

The defeated takeover followed months of bombings across the country and a terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Atatürk airport which killed 45 people.

“We’re still hopeful it could pick up,” Rice added. “It’s a fabulous destination and people will go [to Turkey] if there’s nothing left in Spain, Croatia, Portugal. But I can’t see much business if I’m honest. I’ll be very surprised if we do any sales for Turkey in the next few weeks.”

Sunvil: No bookings for Turkey

Managing director of Sunvil Holidays, Chris Wright, echoed Rice’s comments telling TTG his business had received no bookings for its Turkey programme this summer. “It was a small programme anyway and given the problems Turkey’s had we just haven’t taken any bookings this season,” he said.

A spokesperson for Neilson Holidays said the operator had been feeling “more confident” about an uptake in bookings although Friday’s coup, coupled with June’s airport attack, had set the company “on a different path of thinking.”

Meanwhile, owner of Simpson Travel, Graham Simpson believed the destination would still attract a loyal following of holidaymakers regardless of the recent political upheaval. 

“The people who have already booked for Turkey are the ones who know that it’s a difficult climate to holiday in and yes it is going to be hard to change the perception of Turkey for the majority of people but there is a percentage of people who do want to go and although we are down, people still love Turkey,” he said. 

“We did have a couple of clients who called us to change their booking to Greece and there is going to be nervousness but that’s comparatively few to the number of people we have booked to travel.

“It’s a huge country and the distance between where we’re sending clients and areas where we’re seeing trouble are hundreds of kilometres apart,” added Simpson. 

“The coastal resorts are safe. My son has just returned from the coast and saw no effect on businesses there, and flights are still running.”

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