Why Turkey is Due a Tourist Boom
War, terrorism, political unrest, and a huge amount of fear – these things have affected the world to such a huge amount over the last couple of years, that many of us are questioning whether to travel to different countries for holidays at all. It’s no wonder when you open newspapers to see reports of the latest terror attack happening close to home, or you turn on the TV to see another bomb has caused mass destruction and death.
We live in a horrible world a lot of the time. The thing is, if we allow these events and tragedies to shape our futures, we let the very people causing them win.
This is why Turkey is due a tourist boom this summer.
The last two years have been tough for the Turkish tourism industry, but there are very real chinks of light on the horizon, and there are some seriously encouraging signs that the former glory of the last decade is about to return to the sun-drenched beach resorts of this beautiful country, as well as to the historic city that was once the former capital.
Let’s explore why tourism has been hit over the last few years.
An Unfortunate Situation
Turkey is situated both in Europe and Asia, and as such, a large part of it is considered the Middle East. Now, before you freak out, the UAE is in the Middle East, but everyone goes there without even thinking about it! Does anyone ever think twice about escaping to the paradise beaches of Abu Dhabi? Probably not!
The thing is, Turkey’s geographical location has been its downfall in many ways over the last few years, through no fault of its own. Turkey shares a land border with Syria, and despite the fact that we’re talking about a huge country, with distances of more than 20 hours by bus away from the tourist resorts, the media has painted the border as being just next door to the nightclub and beaches of the Mediterranean! Not so!
On top of this, several terrorist attacks rocked Istanbul within a short space of time, and this put a lot of people off visiting this beautiful, historic city.
Turkey faces threats on several levels, both from ISIS, and from rebel groups which operate in the south-eastern region and occasionally target government buildings and police forces. This doesn’t have anything to do with tourism in many ways, and is more of an internal issue within the country. The ISIS terrorism issue is a world-wide issue, which has affected many countries over the last few years, to sometimes devastating effect.
This all snowballed into a situation which caused people to think twice about visiting Turkey at all. The thing is, there was never a chance in the official advice in terms of visiting the country. The FCO and other local government based agencies across the world, never placed Turkey as somewhere not to visit, and they never told their citizens to leave immediately. The advice has remained the same – avoid protests and rallies, don’t visit the south eastern regions where the Syrian border is located, and to be aware that terrorism affects every country.
Despite that, there has been a huge amount of negative press aimed at Turkey for its location, and this has caused tourism to plummet over the last few years.
Living in Turkey, it’s sad to see. Here, we all know there is no added risk, and that visiting Turkey is something which will and does bring a lot of joy to people. You won’t find many people who have visited Turkey and disliked it or regretted it.
Why is There Hope on The Horizon?
There is a huge amount of hope because people are opening their eyes and seeing just how far away from the tourist resorts the trouble in Syria really is. They are understanding that terrorism is a threat that we all face, even in our own towns and cities. And they are beginning to bravely make the decision to shrug in the face of travel fear, and not to let false reporting or worldwide fears over terrorism stop them from living their lives.
This is great news. This is a win-win situation for everyone!
Initial figures show that flight bookings are up this year, and hotel bookings are doing the same. This is for both Istanbul and the tourist resorts on the south coast. Turkey looks like it is going to have a fantastic summer season. Are you going to join us?
