Israeli tourism to Turkey drops 60%
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. A tirade by Erdogan against Israel and its President Shimon Peres in Davos in January has resulted in a steep drop in Israeli tourism to Turkey, costing the country millions of dollars. "The incident at Davos played a determining role in the Israelis' shunning of Turkey," Timur Bayındır, the head of Turkey's Tourist Hotels and Investors Association, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.Israeli tourism to Turkey dropped from 162,600 arrivals in January - May 2008 to 64,200 in January - May 2009, a drop of 60.5%.
On Jan. 29, Erdoğan stormed out of a heated debate on the Gaza conflict at the World Economic Forum in Davos, after accusing Israel of "barbarian" acts and telling Peres, "you know well how to kill people."
His reaction was unprecedented for Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but non-Arab country that has been Israel's chief regional ally since the two signed a military cooperation deal in 1996. Daniel Zimet, head of Zimet Marketing Communications, which handles the promotion of Turkey in Israel, said that the country's powerful trade unions had introduced a virtual boycott in holidays they organized for workers. "The unions normally decide in January on the destinations, and this year it coincided with Davos," he said. "Turkey was simply erased from the catalogues." According to the Turkish hoteliers' federation, union-organized trips account for nearly half of Israeli tourist arrivals in Turkey.
If this is permanent, it will be a serious blow to the Turkish economy.
Heh.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:26 AM
5 Comments:
Yea Israel...well done! I only wish America would ome to its senses as well and stop pandering to people who vow to kill us.
Best regards,
Gail S.
http://backyardfence.wordpress.com
carl,
i may not agree with everything you post, but i hope you have an ez and successful fast
and may nothing terrible befall klal yisrael during the next 3 weeks
We stopped considering Turkey long ago.
Actually, insulting Shimon Peres almost changed our minds. ;)
Yay!
excellent!
I still remember when Mexico voted "YES" on the Zionism/racism vote at the UN in the '70's...their economy suffered a lot after that...
Countries that rely on tourism should be careful to remember that few arabs travel for pleasure...but a lot of Israelis and Americans do.
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