London and Turkey braced for hard times – TravelMole Comment by Jeremy Skidmore

When the Queen boldly announced that the London bombers of July 7 “would not change our way of life” I felt pleased for her, although it’s not the royals’ way of life that I’m worried about.

I haven’t spotted Her Majesty on the Northern Line recently and although I have no doubt that the Queen was as distressed and angry as the rest of us, there was never any chance of a few fanatics with rucksacks affecting day-to-day life at Buck House.

As for the rest of us, it’s a different matter, particularly after the second attack on July 21 which, mercifully, was largely unsuccessful.

There’s a lot of rubbish talked about how Londoners are brave and defiant, and refuse to be put off travelling on the tube. This was highlighted by the “we’renotafraid” website, which was surely set up by people who really are scared.

Believe it or not, people who live in London have little choice but to use the Underground – we need to go to work to pay the bills and there are few alternatives.

I’m often based at Canary Wharf and on July 7 had to catch a boat for part of my journey home to south London. It was a pleasant journey if you have time on your hands, but hardly efficient for those who have pressing engagements.

I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel nervous getting on the Underground. I feel perfectly safe travelling on aircraft because there are extensive checks for all passengers, but no such security is possible on the tube or buses, which remain an open house for terrorists.

Of course, I don’t want a few terrorists dictating how I live my life but, crucially, I have important work commitments. The mortgage has to be paid and life goes  on.

It’s a different matter when it comes to choosing your holiday destination and I think anyone who believes the current bombing campaign will not affect inbound tourism is kidding themselves. Already, VisitBritain has estimated that the July 7 bombs will cost £300 million in tourism.

Similarly, the bombs in Turkey will have a huge impact on that country’s tourism. Of course, we’re all used to terrorists and there are now few places on earth that anyone can claim, with absolute certainty, will not be targeted by a fanatic with some cause or another.

But the crucial point with those attacks is that the terrorists in Turkey have pledged to carry on targeting tourists. There are just so many destinations to choose from that many people will think “why should I take the risk of travelling there?”

This is just the outcome that the terrorists want, but you can hardly blame people for putting themselves first and changing their travel plans.

Do you think bookings to Turkey will fall through the floor? Email your views via the link on this page.

Meanwhile, I was fortunate enough to chair a lively debate on dynamic packaging at TravelMole’s first sell-out Travel Industry Question Time.

Some interesting points were raised, but I thought Vic Darvey, from holidayandmore.com, too easily dismissed the threat posed by Tesco and google, which both plan to enter the dynamic packaging market.

Vic believes they just don’t have enough travel industry knowledge to set up a successful operation. With respect to our panellists, the brains of Britain are not exclusively located in our leisure industry and, anyway, is dynamic packaging really rocket  science?

Perhaps it is otherwise I wouldn’t still be a mere journalist, but don’t forget these companies have money to burn and can easily buy in knowledge. Don’t tell me some of our successful executives are not going to be tempted by a thicker wage packet to help with the school fees or the latest Mercedes.