Thousands of holidaymakers delay trips

THOUSANDS of British holidaymakers have cancelled or delayed trips to Turkey after at least 290 people were killed there in an attempted military coup.

Travel agents have been deluged with calls from people wanting to back out of planned trips, and specialist Turkish travel firms have reported a “huge financial impact”.

The Foreign Office said the situation “appears to be calming” but advised travellers to check with their airline and tour operators before travelling. It said coastal resorts were “not significantly affected” but advised travellers to avoid demonstrations and public places in Ankara and Istanbul.

Itir Sokmen, of Tulip Holidays in Harringay, north London, which specialises in Turkish destinations, said: “It’s been a very, very busy weekend. We’ve had dozens of people on the phone since 7am wanting to delay their flights, some wanting to cancel their flights – it’s been terrible.”

More than 2.5 million British tourists travel to Turkey every year, according to the Foreign Office. But with political turbulence still affecting the country, those numbers are expected to fall.

Ms Sokmen said: “We’ve had almost no new inquiries this weekend about travel to Turkey. It’s having a huge financial impact on us, and because the Foreign Office has not yet told people not to travel to Turkey, there are many flights that we cannot change.”

British Airways began flying a reduced service to Turkey yesterday, but warned customers that they could ex- perience delays. Thomson and First Choice said all flights to the region would be operating as usual today.

A group of British schoolchildren who were stranded at Ataturk airport during the attempted coup arrived safely in South Africa yesterday.

The 41 pupils and seven staff from Arthur Terry school in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on Friday night, where they planned to get a connecting flight to Cape Town, but had to spend the night at the airport.