Turkey intends to increase the flow of tourists by attracting “alternative” regions to Russia and Ukraine. This is reported by the Anadolu agency.
As the publication quotes the words of the head of the Federation of Turkish Hoteliers Sururi Chorabatyr, Ankara has found a replacement for Russian and Ukrainian tourists.
“Alternative markets have emerged this season. We see that demand is growing from markets such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Albania, and the UK market has also returned. In addition, inquiries from the markets of the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East began to arrive,” Chorabatir said.
According to him, the demand from Israelis has also increased for holidays in Turkey.
Chorabatir noted that from January to April 2022, Turkey received 8.89 million tourists, and the growth rate was 172.51% compared to the same period last year. Most of the tourists came from Germany. The second place in terms of the number of arrivals was taken by Bulgaria, and the third by Iran. They are followed by Russia and the UK.
Earlier, on May 26, Ismail Safi, a member of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council under the President of Turkey, said in an interview with Izvestia that the flow of tourists from Russia to Turkey would decrease. However, according to him, a significant decrease or its complete stop should not be expected.
At the end of 2021, about 30 million foreign tourists rested in Turkey, of which 5 million were Russians.
On May 18, it became known that the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Tourism Agency agreed on 450 additional charter flights per week to Turkish resorts until July 1. As specified in the Federal Tourism Agency, before that, 290 flights flew to Turkey from Russia every week. In the course of expanding air communication with friendly countries that are ready to receive tourists from the Russian Federation, their number has been increased.