Sometimes it's enough for tourists to glance at a map to come back. After months of decline triggered by the crisis with Iran, the eastern Mediterranean is alive again - Turkey, Egypt and Cyprus cut their prices, and bookings shot up.

The slump began at the end of February, when the US and Israeli strikes on Iran set off a wave of cancellations. Travellers were spooked by escalation and dropped their arrangements for the region en masse. But the fear, as so often happens, was bigger than the real danger. "Travellers looked at the map and realised the Suez Canal isn't the same as the Strait of Hormuz," said the CEO of one low-cost carrier, describing it as "an excellent geography lesson".

Once the fear subsided, two things were left: lower prices and free capacity. Hotels across the region offered significant discounts, making them more competitive than Spanish destinations at a similar price. The result is clear in the numbers - searches for Turkey and Egypt rose by a third in mid-June, Cyprus jumped 29 percent, and Egypt swung within weeks from a minus into a strong plus.

The traveller's profile shifted too. Instead of families, who had already settled on other destinations, the field is now dominated by younger couples hunting for a last-minute bargain. For the Balkan tourist, for whom the summer holiday is a pricier bill every year, the lesson is practical: when others are scared, prices fall - and sometimes the best deal hides in exactly the place everyone is fleeing. Fear is expensive; geography is free.