NEWS

Turkey: the holiday success story of 2009

(Actuel - 14/08/2009)

Turkey and Greece are wooing the mass market, while India and the UAE are attracting the more affluent crowd.

When it comes to holidays, we Britons are unashamedly creatures of habit. Each year, some nine million of us haul ourselves off to the beach in Spain - far more than visit any other country.

In the graps, visits abroad made by UK residents, we’ve left out France and Spain to cast light on the up-and-comers.

Turkey, rapidly gaining on Greece, is the upstart, driven by holidaymakers seeking to avoid the strong euro (which it has not yet adopted), and the construction of purpose-built resorts in the southwest.

India has flowered, partly because of its new status as a commercial centre, but also - prior to the recession, at least - as a destination for middle-class families seeking more adventurous, “experiential” holidays.

The United Arab Emirates have arrived. Dubai may be derided by some as a fantasy world built on sand, but many have been won over by its water-fringed hotels, shopping and conveniently packaged deals.

And what about Poland? There’s a clue in its steady rise (as compared with the ECG-like pulses of Turkey and Greece): it’s the 700,000 Poles who’ve moved here since 2004 visiting home.

As one travel analyst at Pricewaterhouse Coopers puts it: “I challenge you to find the Briton who says: ‘We’re taking the family to Poland for a week.’”