Confidence Returns

The number of holidaymakers who said they would not travel to a country perceived as risky after 11 September attacks has halved according to MORI polls carried out in September, November and January on behalf of ABTA.

Popular holiday destinations like Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Dubai all saw visitor numbers fall after September even though none of the countries had experienced hostilities. The same applied for many regions in the US. But now, as no further attacks have been carried out, confidence in travel to the US and popular Islamic destinations have grown steadily.

In each poll, over 900 people who had flown overseas for a holiday in the last two years were asked which destinations they would definitely not go to for a summer holiday in 2002. In September, 41 per cent of those asked said that they would not go to New York, or Egypt, but now only 19 per cent would not go to New York while 16 per cent wouldn't go to Egypt.

The North African countries of Tunisia and Morocco have also experienced an increase in confidence. While 30 per cent of those asked in September said they would not consider going to the region, that figure has now dropped to only 12 per cent.

In addition, only 2 per cent said that they would not go on holiday because of terrorist activity.

"The surveys confirm that people are putting holidays back on their list of priorities and will return to their favourite destinations," says Keith Betton, ABTA Head of Corporate Affairs.

Topline Results

• Base: 1,009 regular leisure flyers.
• Fieldwork dates: 10-14 January 2002.
• All figures are expressed in percentage terms.
• Where they do not add to 100%, this is due either to computer rounding or to multiple answers.

Q1 I'd like you to imagine that before the events in New York, you had actually been planning to go to each of these places on a leisure trip. Please tell me which, if any, you would now definitely not consider flying to, within the next month or so?

Base: All flyers (1,009)

Q2 Assuming that no other major terrorist activity takes place over the next six months or so, and again imagining that you might have considered visiting them prior to last year's terrorist activity, which, if any, of these destinations would you definitely not consider visiting for your summer holiday this year?

Base: All flyers (1,009)

Q3 Please tell me which one of the statements best describes your likely behaviour with regard to taking a holiday this year.

Base: All flyers (1,009)