Russian tourists spend about 3 billion dollars during their holidays in Turkey and after the tension between the two nations, Turkish travel industry risks losing a large part of this revenue.
According to Russia Hospitality Institute spokesperson Irina Goncharova, losses for Turkish tourism will be big as its staff and services are oriented towards Russian and German tourists, who constitute the country’s two major tourist markets, and it will take at least six months for Turkey to bring new markets in order to fill the gap created by Russians.
“We know” Mrs. Goncharova said, “that the large volume of bookings are made from the beginning of the year until Spring. It is extremely difficult for Turkey to find alternatives for 2016 so soon, while hotels will struggle to adapt to the needs of other markets.”
