Hotels in popular Anatolia region of Turkey has scheduled to reopen tourism after Moscow announced it will lift restrictions on flights to Turkey. About 80 percent of the guests are Russians. It has closed for about 20 months and now everyone is please and hope for remainder of 2021 season. Tourism officials said that their sector is a key part of Turkey’s economy and we can now recover some of its losses.
On this time of double digit inflation and a currency slump exacerbated by the pandemic. Turkey relies on revenue from tourism for its foreign exchange needs. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that this year’s season is very important.
According to the Turkey Department of Tourism, in 2019, it grossed $34.5 billion and nearly 52 million visitors. But In 2020, visitor numbers fell by 69% and revenues fell to about $12 billion. Pandemic hit Turkish tourism badly was more than $20 billion in losses.
Now tourism professionals can use at least the second half of the 2021 season.” he said on Saturday during the hotel’s opening in Anatolia. They will try to get a bigger share of the tourism and compensate their losses.
Turkey’s faced restrictions due to spike in Covid cases
Britain and France added Turkey to their red list in need of quarantine for returning tourists. Whereas Russia closed airlines in April.
Turkey’s spring jump on Covid-19, when daily infections hit a record 63,000, issued a travel warning. Fear of the missed season has led the government to exclude tourists from a total ban on Turks.
But right after tourism workers had given vaccination priority. Moreover, Ministry of Tourism shared a promotional video with masked staff saying “Have fun, I’ve vaccinated.”
Turkey’s future plan for remaining 2021 season
As daily infections decreased, several countries are reassessing their travel warnings this month. French and German governments removed Turkey from the high-risk value list. Russia is also resuming flights to Turkey. Industry hopes Britain will also remove the country from the red list.
Moreover, Tourists are expressing their views about Turkey’s tourism. One of tourist said that if you relax restrictions for other countries, you should not exclude Turkey. A German tourist felt safe in Turkey and having fun in secured environment and wearing masks.
On the other side, foreign tourists can harm local residents. Tourists from countries where the more contagious variant is spreading can meet Turkey.
Although hospitalizations and deaths have declined and vaccination has gained momentum but only 17% has fully vaccinated.
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