Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers are shunning Turkey this year due to terrorism fears.
Travellers have also been staying away from Egypt and Tunisia and have been opting for mainland Spain or the Canary Islands instead, according to figures compiled by travel research specialist GfK.
GfK reported a 32% drop in the number of holidays being booked from the UK to Turkey from April 2015 to the same month this year – more than 186,000 travellers in total.
Bookings to mainland Spain and the Canaries have seen a 33% rise over the same period.
The figures emerged on BBC Radio 5 Live special report from Turkey this morning where holidaymakers in the country said security fears would not ruin their holidays.
The mayor of the resort of Fethiye was quoted as describing Turkey as safe as any country including Italy and Spain and people should not be put off from taking holidays in the country.
He said that as the number of holidaymakers are down, tourists will receive “special treatment” from hotels, so “this is the year to come”.