Ankara MP of Turkey’s Republican Peoples Party (CHP) Akin Ustundag revealed on Thursday that 908 tourist facilities along Turkey’s Aegean coastline are now being put up for sale thanks to the increased threat of terrorist attacks against tourists and the Russian boycott of these facilities following the recent breakdown in ties between those countries.
“The sector has contracted by 35 percent over this year … European tourists have turned towards Greece, Portugal and Spain. Besides, many Western countries have issued security warnings about Turkey amid terror attacks,” Ustundag explained to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News.”
Deteriorating ties
“When we have added our deteriorating ties with Russia to this equation, we have seen a sharp rise in reservation cancellations,” he added.
Tourism revenues in Turkey declined 14.3 percent to $6.57 billion in the final quarter of 2015, the Turkish Statistics Institute (T??K) said on Jan. 29.
In 2015 as a whole, tourism revenues fell 8.3 percent, reaching $31.46 billion amid the decrease in the number of Russian and European tourists.
Ten German tourists were killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul last January 12 in an incident which has seen many tourists avoid holidaying to Turkey.
Economic sanctions
Russia placed economic sanctions on Turkey following Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane over the Syria-Turkey border last November 24. Russia has also banned its citizens from holidaying in Turkey which has affected Turkey’s tourist sector since many Russians used to holiday there.
Russian sanctions are also had adverse affects on the agricultural sector in Turkey’s Aegean region. Ustundag singled out the Aegean province of Mugla which “exported around 150,000 tons of fresh fruits to Russia last year, but their exports have now been about to stop. Only the district of Fethiye sent more than 30 trucks of fresh fruit and vegetables to Russia each day until the crisis erupted between Turkey and Russia last November.“
“Russia has closed the doors to our exporters. Our daily loss is around 1 million liras. We all hope the issues will be resolved as soon as possible.”
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