While the tragic events of January had a negative impact on tourism in Paris, a survey by Easyvoyage indicates that nearly 64% of the French are ready to go in an Islamic country for holiday.
Their choice includes Morocco (46.4%), Tunisia (29.3%) and Turkey (26.8%). Dubai and the Emirates are not left out with 21.2% travelers who would consider going there. Surprisingly, 15.8 % of the 3,000 people surveyed are ready to travel to Egypt. In contrast, Jordan and Oman were less popular among French travelers with only 13.3 % and 9.3% of them intending to visit these countries.
The price is the most important factor for the respondents when deciding where to go for holidays. Another strong argument for the travelers opting for Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Dubai and Egypt is local hospitality. 50.4% respondents highlighted this reason.
Finally, for 33.5% of the tourists, the fact that French is the main language in many of these countries plays a big role as well as the proximity to France (29%). "Between the potential intentions and actual bookings, there will obviously be a difference ... However, these results are encouraging for Muslim countries that are seeing a sharp drop in hotel bookings," explained Jean-Pierre Nadir, founder and chairman of Easyvoyage.