UK: Daily Mail suggests industry has “written off” hope of quick fix
“The Med is dead”, screams the Daily Mail today as it reports on the current state of affairs in the travel industry, adding that agents have already “written off” any hopes of an improvement before the end of the war on Iraq.
The newspaper reports that more people are cancelling trips to Turkey and Cyprus than are making bookings, with a one-third decline in foreign holiday reservations across the board.
The Mail quotes Julian Foster, of Foster Travel, who told the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG): “The Med is dead. I cannot see this picking up until the war is over and some semblance of normality has returned to Iraq. Sales are diabolical; people have just stopped travelling. They are not just avoiding Turkey – they are not even booking Majorca at the moment.”
The newspaper states that six out of 10 families who travelled abroad last year have not yet booked a holiday, while adult-only bookings are down 20 per cent. Ian Taylor, TTG deputy editor, told the Mail: “It is clear Easter is going to be poor by industry standards and family bookings probably won’t come back in large numbers until after a ceasefire.”
