Turkey off the menu

It is no secret that Turkey over recent years has had its fair share of problems and is often in the media with reports of fighting, terrorist attacks and more recently a military coup which resulted in many fatalities. Because of the risk to tourists travelling to the area Holland America Line has become the latest cruise line to take the decision to pull Turkey from its programme for the rest of 2016. Other lines such as Crystal Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Windstar Cruises and Oceania Cruises have already made that move with Norwegian, Regent and Oceania also cancelling Turkey port of calls for the 2017 season too. 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office are closely monitoring the situation in Turkey and are not advising against travel to Turkey in the most part except for the areas bordering Syria, but instead advise tourists to be vigilant. To the cruise lines of course customer safety is paramount and it would appear they are airing on the side of caution, but is that the right thing to do? Definitely not according to one of my customers who is extremely upset that his cruise with Holland America line is no longer embarking from Istanbul meaning he can no longer have a pre-cruise stay there which was set to be the highlight of the trip.

Turkey has always been a hugely popular tourist destination for us Brits, mainly owing to its beautiful beaches, high temperatures and its value for money and whilst some holiday makers are still taking advantage of the great deals and the super weather, many are steering clear and instead are opting to stay a little closer to home within the borders of Europe where they deem it to be safer.

Turkey’s economy is extremely reliant on tourism and with such huge operators pulling out I cant help but wonder what damage this will do to them as a country financially which will be a real shame. What do you think? Are the cruise lines right to pull out or should it be business as usual? Are you travelling to Turkey as usual this year or are you avoiding the destination completely? Id love to hear your thoughts on this.