The restrictions imposed by Russia on air traffic with Turkey will lead to massive bankruptcies in the local tourism sector. This is stated in the deputy request of a member of the Turkish parliament Levent Goek.
We will remind, as reported by EADaily, Russia since Thursday, April 15, has limited air traffic with Turkey until June 1 due to the worsening situation with coronavirus infection. The head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said that most of the mutated strains of coronavirus were brought to Russia from this country. There is now growing concern in Turkey over the loss of tourism revenues.
“In 2019, Russian tourists took first place among foreigners who came to Turkey, seven million tourists from Russia provided a significant part of the income of our tourism industry. In 2020, amid the pandemic, the Russian Federation again topped the rating of countries in terms of the number of foreign tourists who came to our country – more than 2 million”, says Goek’s request addressed to the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
According to him, in the context of a pandemic, every tourist arriving in Turkey from Russia “is worth its weight in gold for the tourism sector, which is now crying in blood”. The parliamentarian asks the Minister of Culture and Tourism to explain why no measures were taken at the beginning of the tourist season to avoid restrictions on flights, and whether measures will be taken in this regard to support the tourism sector in Turkey.