Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 8
By Orkhan Quluzade – Trend:
Turkey expects an increase in the number of Russian tourists in 2017, governor of Antalya province Munir Karaoglu told Trend Sept. 8.
He expressed hope that the number of tourists visiting Turkey, in particular, Antalya province, will increase in 2017 not only from Russia, but also from Azerbaijan, Ukraine and other countries.
Karaoglu noted that normalization of Russia-Turkey relations fell to the end of the tourism season.
“Turkey is taking a number of important steps in order to attract tourists from Russia and other countries,” said the governor. “Russian tourists and guests from other countries should understand that Antalya is the safest province in the country.”
Karaoglu said 2016 will be remembered as a difficult crisis period for Turkey, adding that the country’s tourism center, Antalya, was mostly affected by these problems.
Earlier, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in its report that the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey decreased by 93 percent in July 2016, as compared to the same month in 2015.
In total, the number of tourists visiting Turkey decreased by 36.7 percent in July 2016, as compared to the same month in 2015, and stood at 3.4 million people.
A total of 14.2 million tourists traveled to Turkey in January-July 2016, or 30.3 percent less than in the same period in 2015.
As many as 29.6 million tourists visited Turkey and 12.4 million of them traveled to Istanbul in 2015, according to the country’s Statistics Institute.
Turkey’s revenues from tourism stood at $31.5 billion in 2015, or 8.3 percent less than in 2014.
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