Rapid inflation in Turkey and the depreciation of the Turkish lira against the British pound have resulted in British tourist demand for Turkey more than doubling from pre-pandemic levels. Similarly, according to Bloomberg, the demand for Egypt is also growing in Britain, as the currency of the country of the Pyramids also seriously sank. As a result, the British began to replace Russian tourists in hotels in Turkey and Egypt, since in Russia the trend is reversed – the ruble exchange rate is falling, and tourist demand is slowing down, although not on a catastrophic scale.
But first about the British. The publication cites data from the local tour operator On The Beach, which says that the demand of British citizens for holidays in Turkey and Egypt has almost doubled to “pre-Covid” indicators. And the main reason is the fall of local currencies. Thus, in 2019, the Turkish lira lost more than 4 times its value against the pound sterling, increasing from 6.72 lira to 34.37 lira, while the loss of the Egyptian lira against the pound almost doubled.
The second reason is the sharp increase in the number of flights. The number of passengers arriving in Turkey increased by 1.2 million compared to 2019 and continues to grow. London Heathrow announced that flights to Turkey in July were the busiest ever, with more than 73,000 tourists traveling to Turkey. In general, Turkey turned out to be the third popular destination for the tour operator – after the Canary Islands and mainland Spain. At the same time, experts do not exclude that Turkey may overtake Spain next season.
At the same time, we recall that the situation in Russia is different – the currency has overcome the “psychological ceiling” of the exchange rate of 100 rubles. per dollar and some tour operators have already felt a decrease in sales. True, as ATOR experts assure, it is not catastrophic. In figures, the decrease is estimated at about 10% and they say that “tourists save money, but they don’t refuse vacations.” As Artur Muradyan, General Director of the Space Travel tour operator, commented on the situation, the exchange rate has been growing systematically since May, tourists have adapted and “a certain tolerance has appeared.” However, there are questions about the next season …
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