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International flight bookings to Istanbul slumped by almost a third (32%) in the aftermath of the bomb attack on the city’s main tourist area earlier this month.
The figure emerged from analysis of future travel patterns by ForwardKeys, which monitors 14 million reservation transactions each day.
The majority of those killed in the January 12 attack were German, prompting bookings from the country to plummet by 39% the week after the bombing.
ForwardKeys co-founder and chief executive, Olivier Jager, said: “As our data shows, there was an immediate reaction to the bombing with people deciding to stay away from Istanbul.
“Whilst the impact has been negative and noticeable, this terrorist incident has not affected Istanbul as badly as the November 13 attacks affected Paris.”
He added: “People visiting friends and family and the business sector, whose travel is characterised by shorter stays, shorter notice and individual rather than group bookings, appear to have been less deterred than those travelling as tourists.”
But the forward booking situation to the Turkish city is not encouraging.
Jager said: “All the top source markets continue to be down compared with the previous year. The one exception is Ukraine but that is due to a prior slump in demand.
“Our data shows that, so far, booking trends are not showing any signs of significant recovery.”