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Shanghai tourists witness Istanbul airport blast 50 meters away; travel agencies launch contingency plans

By Hu Min | June 29, 2016, Wednesday | Online Edition

TRAVEL agencies in the city have launched contingency plans and started giving full refund to tourists who want to cancel already booked trips to Turkey following the airport blasts.

A 28-tourist Shanghai tour group organized by Shanghai Zhongqing Travel Service was shocked by the blast when they underwent boarding procedures at the Ataturk Airport on Tuesday. 

Two tourists had their passports lost during the blast. All tourists of the group are safe and have been arranged accommodation after the incident, the travel agency said. 

"It is horrible, and the scene taking place in films appeared before my eyes," said Zhang Yalin, a Shanghai tourist of the tour group. 

"The blast was about 50 meters from me, and I bended down and was almost frightened to death," she recalled. "I could do nothing except waiting for the arrangement of destiny and it is lucky that a Turkish local stood up to protect me at that time."

Online travel operator Tuniu has 133 tourists who would head for Turkey before July 8, and the travel agency said it is contacting these tourists to change or cancel their itineraries.

A full refund will be offered for cancellation, it said.

Its 57 tourists who were scheduled to return from Istanbul and now affected by the closure of the airport had been arranged accommodation at hotels. They are asked to stay indoors.

Ctrip has started offering full refunds to independent travelers who booked Turkish tour products on its website and tourists in tour groups scheduled to travel to Turkey between Wednesday and July 5, and said it will closely follow the situation in the country.

Its 200-plus tourists in Turkey were safe and have been reminded to avoid going out, said Ctrip, which has issued a warning on Turkish travel. 

Liu Chao, a Ctrip tour leader who led a 28-tourist Shanghai tour group in Turkey is scheduled to return to Shanghai on Sunday from Istanbul. He is in Pamukkale now. 

"I have asked my tourists to move together now, and they are reminded to always keep contact and avoid going out at night," he said. 

Online travel agency Tongcheng said it has asked its tour guides to make detour to avoid dangerous and crowded areas, and is contacting its tourists to cancel trips to Turkey. 

Turkey is a black house in the tourism market for Chinese tourists in the first half of last year, with more than 150,000 Chinese tourists recorded to Turkey due to relaxed visa policies and reality shows’ promotion, according to Mafengwo, a travel website for travel notes and reviews.

But a series of blasts in Turkey have seriously affected Chinese tourists' enthusiasm on Turkey with the explosive growth of Chinese tourists to Turkey slowed down since July last year, and it started decreasing this year, it said.

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