Terrorism is the number-one concern for British holidaymakers, while travel industry bosses say terror attacks have had the greatest impact on their business in the past year. Of the British holidaymakers who went abroad this year, 38% said the threat of terrorism was a concern, with 9% admitting to being "extremely concerned".
On the plus side, 40% said they were not concerned at all - despite several high-profile terror attacks in the past year. However, there is clear evidence that global terror incidents, such as the Nice Bastille Day massacre, the Istanbul Ataturk Airport attack and terror campaigns in Tunisia, have affected tourism.
The report says 76% of key industry executives said terrorism has impacted their business in the past year. Of these, one in three said terrorism had a ‘significant’ impact, while 43% said it had ‘some’ impact. Only 24% said terrorism had no impact at all.
Despite high-profile cases of industrial action by air transport workers, service personnel in Greece, blockades at Calais and train strikes, fewer than half of industry executives (46%) said industrial action had impacted their business.
The refugee crisis has impacted 44% of travel businesses - with 11% saying it has had a significant impact; while 37% say health scares such as the Zika virus have affected their business.
Just over a quarter (28%) of consumers said the refugee crisis affected their decision on where to go on holiday; 23% were concerned about political instability; 22% were concerned about the Zika virus and other health scares; 20% were concerned about industrial action and 18% were concerned about natural disasters.
More than 2,000 buyers and exhibitors were polled for the report, with half the global sample saying they are planning to have conversations with suppliers from Egypt, Greece or Turkey. The three destinations’ tourism industries have been hit hard by a combination of political uncertainty and terrorist attacks over the past few years, prompting many travel companies to withdraw from or severely limit their presence.
However, this could be about to change, with 37% of the total sample looking to talk to Greek businesses, 29% looking to talk to Turkish suppliers and 17% heading toward the Egypt stands. Eight out of ten buyers who are having talks with Turkish, Greek and Egyptian exhibitors plan on signing contracts (80%, 80% and 78% respectively).
Tunisia is another destination, whose tourism industry has been hit, and its recovery is taking longer to materialize but there are early signs of a shift in sentiment. While only 8% of the samples are looking to talk to representatives, more than 70% of those are expecting to sign a deal.
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Your headline and story don't read the same. Looking to talking to, and walking towards and planning to, isn't a sale. Keep telling us the moon is made of green cheese and we will believe it.