Scores of tourists shift destinations

Thousands of travelers are constantly shifting their Middle East reservations to spend their vacations in European, Caribbean or Latin American countries as the U.S. war against Iraq is chasing them away, sources close to all major world tourist companies warned in Germany.

From the beginning of the war, several thousands travelers are day by day swapping their reservations to travel to such countries as Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia for quieter choices in Europe like Spain, Portugal and Croatia, and other spots in the Caribbean and Latin America, said execs from TUI and Thomas Cook, the sector’s world leading companies.

Tourists have not so far made up their minds to call off reservations, so that puts losses for tour operators on hold for the time being. Both TUI and Thomas Cook, however, are watching booking volumes drop by more than 20 percent compared to 2002, and even to 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The tourist sector’s downturn has prompted cost cuts by roughly $1 million and massive layoffs in an effort to make it up for the ongoing negative situation.