UK tour operators believe Tunisia can bounce back from this week’s tragic shooting of 20 tourists, as long as the attacks don’t continue.
“If there are no further incidents of this sort in Tunisia then, especially since most news items are currently being pushed off the front pages by budget and election news, we must hope that the story may not linger long in the media,” said AITO chairman Derek Moore.
“As with any incident like this, much will depend, in the coming weeks, whether this turns out to be an isolated incident or the start of a worrying new area of terrorism. If this is the first of several incidents tourism will suffer drastically as happened in Syria and Egypt; if it is a one-off then the public tend to have short memories.”
Moore said AITO has spoken to members who feature Tunisia and most are not currently offering any programmes at this time of the year.
“Only a few have clients booked to travel in the near future and no clients have yet asked to cancel,” he added.
“Bookings will dry up, certainly for a few weeks; whether they then recover depends on if there are further incidents. But an advertising push by the tourist authorities would be advisable.”
Ted Wake, joint MD and director of sales and marketing for AITO member Kirker Holidays, said bookings for Tunisia were already very low, with no clients booked on its cultural short breaks until the autumn.
“Whilst yesterday’s tragic incident at the Bardo Museum will deter clients in the short term, recent experience confirms that destination security and customer perceptions change rapidly,” he said.
“Consumers, especially experienced travellers, are pragmatic when it comes to their assessment of where to travel to next.
“Certainly, clients who live in the UK and elsewhere in Northern Europe are well aware of security risks that they face at home and abroad and they are very reluctant to make adjustments to their travel plans on account of a terrorist threat. Indeed, some argue that destinations are safer places after an incident on account of heightened security measures.”
