Cruise lines pull the plug on troubled Istanbul

In the aftermath of the Istanbul airport terrorist attack a few days ago, and the recent Military coop, various cruise lines have already acted quickly and cancelled Istanbul calls in their forth coming cruises. Celebrity have pulled 2 ships scheduled to depart from Istanbul over the next few months and will now depart from Athens Piraeus Port instead. Also cancelling a visit to Istanbul on Wednesday was luxury line Seabourn. The line said a cruise on the 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey scheduled to begin Saturday in Istanbul instead would begin in Piraeus. They have not cancelled yet any other later visits though. Other lines such as Norwegian cruise lines, MSC, Oceania and others already cancelled Turkey from previously. Regent and Oceania also have dropped calls in Turkey for 2017. Holland America are still assessing the situation and not yet cancelled any visits to Turkey.

Turkey has been headline news recently, with a terror incident almost every month since January, and with the recent coop the ongoing situation is un certain.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently exacting revenge on those responsible for the weekend’s failed uprising, with more than 6,000 people arrested in a crackdown. World leaders are urging him to not to restrict basic democratic rights, while the Foreign Office, though not advising against travel to Turkey, warns that atmosphere is “potentially volatile”.

The country has already seen visitor numbers tumble in recent months – including a 34.7 per cent fall in May, the largest decrease in 22 years – and the latest disruption is likely to be irreparably harmful to an already fragile tourism industry. At the end of May, Turkey was reporting its year-to-date arrivals were down 9.9 per cent.

Not only has the country faced terrorist attacks, it is has been challenged by the Syrian war on its border, the migration crisis and the aftermath of a political dispute with Russia ,the recent coup may further impact the country’s travel and tourism sector, as travellers will need to be confident of political stability before they return in large numbers.

Is Turkey still on the map for you? Would love to hear your thoughts.