Why would anyone visit a terror-affected place? A case of Turkey

Abstract

It is both interesting and paradoxical that Turkey is the sixth most visited country in the world despite the increasing terror attacks in its territory and region. This article attempts to shed light on the tourism–terrorism nexus in Turkey. Using monthly data from 1990 to 2017, this study applies the Granger causality test and regression analysis. The findings show that tourists continue to visit Turkey despite the intense terror incidents. Only terrorist attacks in Istanbul and deaths from terror incidents deter tourists from visiting Turkey. When we delve deeply into the question of why tourists visit Turkey despite terror attacks, we figure out that the weak Turkish Lira has an incredibly significant impact on tourist arrivals. It is also worth noting that web searches about the security of Turkey have a significant and positive impact on tourists’ travel decisions. Finally, the findings reveal that the negative impact of the Russian Jet Crisis on tourist arrivals is larger than that of the July 15th Coup Attempt.