Number of tourists visiting Turkey increases 5.4 percent

According to the Tourism Support Package Report of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, Turkey hosted 38.6 million tourists last year, and steps are currently being taken to recover the loss of visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States, mainly Russia, and Iran due to economic troubles in these countries. These 13 countries mean an income of $8 to $9 million for Turkey and over 10 million tourists.

A support package issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Iran will provide $6,000 to each plane arriving from these countries.

While the number of tourists visiting Turkey in January and February increased by 5.4 percent, the numbers of tourists from the Commonwealth of Independent States decreased by 3.5 percent. The biggest loss – 26.5 percent - was suffered in the number of visitors from Russia, and the decline is expected to continue in March.

Turkey is expecting to keep the loss at around 10 to 15 percent despite the losses in the Russian markets. In April and May $6,000 fuel support will be provided for each plane. Last year, a total of 10.4 million tourists from these 13 countries visited Turkey, while the number of Russians was around 4.4 million. This figure is anticipated to be around 4 million with the fuel support this year.

Further, the leading names in global tourism will visit Istanbul for the first World Tourism Forum (WTF) organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. On April 30, the forum will host executives from leading global companies from Facebook to Expedia, along with 600 local and foreign experts. With participants from Europe, Russia, Turkic countries and Gulf countries, the future of global tourism will be discussed at the forum.