A decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Turkey, as was expected from the strictest lockdown to date, provided a major lift to the local tourism sector’s morale as they anticipate a higher number of vacationers for the upcoming summer season.
Tacettin Özden, the vice-chairperson of the Federation of Hoteliers of Turkey, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the hotels are ready for the new season armed with the experience of fighting the outbreak that they gained last year.
Stating that they started to host tourists from Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania this season, Özden said that these are leading markets for now given the stagnation in other European countries currently.
Everyone should fight together to reduce the number of cases, Özden said, and if we are able to reach the target to bring the daily new case number below 5,000 as determined by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, European countries will remove Turkey from their travel restricted countries lists.
The EU’s current green list only has seven countries – Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand – plus China if Beijing agrees to reciprocate.
Regarding Russia, one of Turkey’s most important markets for tourism, the number of tourists coming from the country to the Turkish Mediterranean resort town of Antalya doubled from a year ago despite Moscow’s decision last month to halt flights.
Antalya welcomed some 445,671 foreign visitors from January through April this year, and tourists from Russia alone accounted for some 296,131 of the overall figure, Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism data compiled on Wednesday showed.
The Ministry of Tourism has a target of $20 billion (TL 167.34 billion) in tourism income and hopes to host 30 million foreign guests this year, he reiterated, noting that he thinks “we will be able to reach these numbers if we return to normalization before it’s too late.”
