Gareth Williams CEO comments:

“The recent unrest in Egypt and Tunisia appears to have had a knock-on effect on consumer confidence on holidaying in neighbouring countries. Jordan looks to have been hit the worst with searches down by 19%, while Cyprus and Turkey may also be experiencing some negative association, albeit to a lesser extent, with searches down by 9% and 5% respectively.

“Although these drops in searches indicate that tourists may be put off making travel plans to neighbouring countries, worried that similar outbreaks may occur, we know from previous studies that tourists are not put off by political unrest for long.  Looking back at the troubles that Bangkok experienced at the beginning of last summer, we saw only a very short effect on visitor interest, with searches bouncing back to normal levels by the following month.  With this in mind it is unlikely that tourism in Egypt and the surrounding countries will feel a negative impact for long.”