The seismic activity in the Aegean Sea has impacted tourism in Greece. Early booking cancellations were experienced in Santorini. Industry representatives stated that tourists choosing the islands shifted to Turkey and Egypt, reflecting on early bookings.
The earthquake storm affecting the islands in the Aegean Sea, especially Santorini, redirected the route of tourists considering the famous Greek islands for holiday towards Turkey.
Daily life was negatively affected in islands like Santorini and Mykonos that host millions of tourists every year due to the seismic activity in the Aegean Sea. Early booking cancellations in these islands, which rely heavily on tourism, turned the tourism route towards Turkey.
The efforts of the Greek government to ensure that the tourism sector emerges from this process with minimal damage support the idea that Turkey will attract tourists to the islands this summer.
Tourists planning holidays on the islands are turning towards Turkey, one of the nearby locations, by canceling reservations due to recent tremors.
This demand is reflected in early bookings in Turkey’s holiday resorts.
Mehmet İşler, Vice President of the Turkey Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), stated that the important number of tourists have been welcomed in the Aegean Sea islands where seismic activity has been occurring for some time. İşler emphasized that Turkey is currently in a tourism opportunity, saying, “Of course, we do not want such disasters to happen, but the fear caused by the earthquake, especially in Santorini, and the tendency of people not to make reservations there this year or to cancel ongoing reservations are continuing. As two countries that share the same sea and sun, we see that reservations are shifting more towards Bodrum and Muğla regions.”
İşler mentioned that Çeşme appears as a promising new destination and expressed that a better promotion of Izmir at fairs could attract more tourists.
Explaining that they continue promotional activities as tourism professionals, İşler added: “We see that those fleeing the islands are heading to Egypt and the new destination points Antalya, Fethiye, Marmaris, and Bodrum. This new tourist profile, which did not come to Turkey before, being our target audience, is an opportunity for us. We can turn this opportunity in our favor with superior service quality and affordable prices. We are faced with a new market and a new customer portfolio.”
Orhan Belge, President of the Cesme Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association, emphasized that Greek tourism, especially the islands, is experiencing early booking issues.
Belge, reporting an increase in early bookings in Turkey due to the seismic activity in the Aegean Sea, said: “The increase in early bookings shows that tourists are shifting from Greece to us. Of course, we never want a natural disaster to happen in any country, but it was clear that it would shift towards this side, and we see the movement. There is everything in Cesme from sea, sun, history, festivals, gastronomy. In other words, those who created the perception of being expensive compared to the islands in the middle of last season now clearly see that it was not true. This perception is gradually fading away. This year and the next year will be very different from 2023 and 2024. Our goal is to catch up with and surpass 2019 and earlier. It will be a good year for Cesme this year.”