June 29, 2016
#PrayForTurkey has been used on social media as a response to the attacks
A terrorist attack at Turkey’s Istanbul Ataturk airport has left 41 dead and more than 230 injured.
The attack occurred Tuesday evening near the international terminal entrance. While it appears that the Islamic State was behind the attack, the militant group has not officially taken responsibility for the strike that saw three suicide bombers detonate explosives near the crowded security checkpoint leading into the airport.
One with Turkey
After the attacks, flights in and out of the airport were suspended. Flights have now resumed, but with numerous cancellations and delays.
The Istanbul Ataturk international airport is the third-busiest airport in Europe after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle. In 2015, 61.3 million passengers passed through the airport on their way to Turkey or for a connecting layover to destinations elsewhere in the Middle East and Asia.
In 2017, the Istanbul Ataturk airport is scheduled to close to make way for the largest airport in the world, the Istanbul New Airport. The new airport project will boast the world’s largest duty free shop.
Duty free shopping and high-end hospitality have made Turkey a popular tourist destination recently. But, after numerous terrorist attacks in 2016 alone, the “gateway to the East” has lost approximately 40 percent of the 37 million tourists who visited the country in 2014.
As with the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, it is likely that tourists planning to visit Turkey will reconsider. This will further impact the country’s hospitality and tourism sectors the most (see story).
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