Middle East Violence: Turkey's tourism falters as travellers wrongly liken it to Tunisia, Egypt and Libya

Add to My Stories Turkey's tourism market boomed during the credit crunch as holidaymakers looked for affordable trips outside the eurozone.
But confusion over the violence in the Middle East seems to have put a stop to growth, with confused travellers including Turkey in the group of nations in danger of political unrest.Holiday companies have reported a nine per cent dip in bookings this year and are blaming fears over the violence in the Middle East and North Africa, despite there being no danger of it spreading to Turkey.

British favourite: Turkey has become one of our top holiday spotsNow holiday companies are desperate to reassure worried holidaymakers that democratic Turkey is in no way affected by the rebellions going on in other countries governed by autocratic regimes.Akin Koc, managing director of Turkey and North Cyprus specialist Anatolian Sky Holidays, said: 'With the unrest in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya featuring so heavily inthe news, we were expecting to see an increase in bookings for Turkeyfrom those seeking an alternative safe choice.
'I was very surprised tohear, however, that some people actually were linking Turkey to whatthey were seeing on the news.'Turkey's democratic republic was formed in 1923 and both men and women over the age of 18 have been able to vote since 1933.'Women got the vote in Turkey before they did in many European countriesincluding France, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland,' explained Tolga Tuyluoglu, director of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in London.
'Also since 1923,when the Republic of Turkey was founded, it has been a secular state -that means that religion takes no part in the running of the country.

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In 2010 nearly 2.7million British tourists visited Turkey, an increase of 10 per cent on the year before. But there are fears that the market could falter due to a lack of confidence in the country's stability this year. Stuart Kerr director of travel agent Holidaymate, said: Usually I prefer to talk to our clients about Turkey's beaches, thehigh standards of hotels and great value for money but this year I havefound myself talking about politics too.
'I want to get the messageacross that Turkey is like any other Mediterranean country. It has farmore in common with places like Spain, Greece and Cyprus than it doeswith Egypt and Tunisia.'