ISTANBUL — It is no surprise that Turkey’s tourism
industry has taken a hit in the wake of two suicide bombings that killed
tourists here this year. However, it isn’t just Americans who are steering clear,
and the challenge doesn’t stem only from the events in Istanbul.
Hakan Denizer, the president of Istanbul’s KD Tourism
& Travel, said the November attacks in Paris “scared Europeans off travel
in general ... which affected us.” In addition, the robust business from Russia
collapsed immediately after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet the same
month. Istanbul-based operators who provided statistics had similar results:
Incoming business is off 80% compared with last year.
A relatively small portion of arrivals are cruise
related (1.9 million, or about 5.3% of Turkey’s 36.2 million foreign visitors),
but the cruise segment is more important than the numbers suggest, said Yasemin
Pirinccioglu, CEO of VIP Tourism in Istanbul, because “we lose the independent
pre- and post-cruise business,” and cruisers tend to spend a lot of money on
shopping.
Viking Cruises canceled the Viking Sea’s Istanbul
shore excursions and cut short the ship’s stay in the city following this
year’s second Istanbul attack, in March, in part to make cruise cancellations
less likely.
In another example, a Celestyal Cruises voyage this
spring with student groups aboard stopped at Samos in Greece to drop off and
later pick up some 200 passengers who chose not to make the Kusadasi call.
On a visit to Istanbul earlier this month, enhanced security
was often visible. A guard manned the entrance at the Pera Palace Hotel
Jumeirah, while the Shangri-La Bosphorus used airport-style screening (its
X-ray conveyor belt was discreetly surrounded by marble). The Naval Museum also
used airport-style screening.
Still, on a restaurant tour in the Beyoglu district,
it took time to find an eatery that wasn’t fully booked. It was wise to make
reservations for evening meals, although a restaurant in a shopping area just
outside the Grand Bazaar was quiet.
On April 3, Istanbul-based Tura Turizm, which operates
Viking’s Turkey shore excursions, hosted visiting journalists at an
early-evening visit to the heart of Istanbul. Given that the museums were
closed and tourists mostly gone, the trip was a reminder that locals still
visit the area. Families strolled with babies around the fountain and through
the tulip-filled gardens between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
Pam Wright and her husband, travel lawyer and Travel
Weekly columnist Mark Pestronk, were in Istanbul at the same time, waiting to
board Holland America’s Prinsendam. Wright said they felt quite comfortable.
“There was security everywhere,” she said.
In an off-the-record briefing, a high-level Istanbul
police official discussed steps the police had taken to improve security.
On Istanbul’s Old Town peninsula, which is more than
10 square miles, the Istanbul police now assign 631 security personnel, up from
373 last year. (The numbers don’t include tourism police and private security
guards.)
Istanbul police are now stopping cars at four
checkpoints and are routinely stopping anyone on the streets who arouses
suspicion. In March, the police stopped 1.5 million people.
The bottom line, said one police antiterrorism
specialist, is that Istanbul is “no more risky than Paris. … I never warn my
own family off any area” of the city.
Tura Turizm handles cruise passengers in Turkey for
the Carnival and Royal Caribbean brands, as well as for Viking. CEO Erkunt Oner
said his firm maintains “close cooperation with local security people and every
day provides updated information to the cruise lines.”
At the same time, he said, “we provide information on
our programs to city and seaport police” so police can move personnel around
accordingly.
Similarly, Pirinccioglu said VIP Tourism advises
tourism police in Istanbul and other cities of its group movements, including
“minute-by-minute” details when necessary. The police may, for example, offer
assistance so her clients can avoid demonstrations or other crowded situations,
she said.
Karen Fedorko Sefer, owner of Sea Song, whose Istanbul
business is all FIT and inbound, said, “We talk to the U.S. consulate all the
time. We monitor the tourist sites, avoid visiting them when they are crowded.”
Because her groups are small, it’s easy to change “at a moment’s notice,” she
said.
Pirinccioglu said the Turkish travel agents
association is advocating at ministerial levels for more tourism advertising
and public relations activities.
Feyhan Kaprali, a managing partner at Istanbul’s
Tekser Tourism & Travel, added that the trade has asked for direct
financial help, too, in the form of postponing certain tax and Social Security
obligations. Her agency, with business down 80%, has reduced staff hours to cut
costs.
The tour operators said they would continue marketing,
even with “no expectations for short-term results,” as Kaprali put it.
Marketing tools include social media, which is “magical,” Pirinccioglu said,
for keeping people in touch and raising visibility for the destination.
At the Pera Palace, where business is off 50%, general
manager Pinar Kartal Timer, newly returned from a sales trip in the U.S., said
the “worst thing” would be to push people toward a destination “if their gut
feeling is not good.”
However, Denizer offered an alternative: suggesting
other destinations in Turkey while letting clients skip Istanbul if they wish.
Recently, he said, clients have been happy with alternative proposals and “we
will probably offer more of these.”