Israel Matzav

Israelis flee from Turkey

I haven't been willing to change planes in Istanbul on the way to the US since the end of 2008. Now, Israelis who are less risk averse than I am feel the same way. Despite an advertising campaign this past summer that was meant to draw Israeli tourists to Turkey, Israelis have abandoned the country in droves. No one wants to go there anymore. Not even to change planes on the way to someplace else.

Gilad Brovinsky, Deputy Head of Marketing for “Disenhaus Tours,” said Tuesday that “in recent months the number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey was much lower than in previous years and most of them were Israeli Arabs. In recent days with the stories that we’re hearing in the news, it has fallen to zero and we are dealing with mass cancellations of vacations and flights to Turkey.”

Brovinsky added that the cancellations, which should increase even more following Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement on Tuesday that he is suspending defense ties with Israel, include not only package vacations to Turkey, but also a large number of travelers who were using Istanbul as a stop off for connecting flights elsewhere.

Brovinsky said that tourists who cancel their Turkey vacations will probably pick other destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean or Black Sea, making places like Rhodes, Crete, or Varna, Bulgaria the big benefactors of Turkey’s loss of Israeli tourists.

But the Turks might not even notice.

Israelis only make up about one half of one percent of the 30 million tourists who visit Turkey each year.”

...

He also said that Turkish airlines is one of the largest airlines in Europe, and Istanbul is one of the major hub cities in Europe, two factors that will make the loss of Israeli tourist traffic even less likely to cause ripples in Ankara.

But here's a sobering thought which had occurred to me as well, but I didn't know the consequences:

Fischer also presented a scenario in which relations between Jerusalem and Ankara worsen to the point where Turkey no longer allows Israel to use its airspace as its main flight corridor to the west and to Russia. Fischer said that in such a scenario, Israeli flights would have to fly over Greece and elsewhere, increasing flight times and ticket prices.

And could we also reach the point where it's considered unsafe for Israelis to fly over Turkey in case, God forbid you have to make an emergency landing - as is the case with most Arab countries? What could go wrong?

Labels: Turkish obsession with Israel, Turkish tourism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:46 AM