Reports show drastic drop in tourist numbers during January and February 2021
The number of foreign visitors fell by 70.24 percent to about 1.05 million people during January-February according to data released by the Ministry of Tourism. The number of foreign visitors to Turkey decreased by 68.96 percent to 537,976 people in February, due to the ongoing pandemic.
The countries that sent the most visitors to Turkey in February were the Russian Federation, Iran, Bulgaria, Iraq and Germany, respectively.
In his assessment to international media organizations yesterday, Turkish Association of travel agencies (TÜRSAB) President said that they expected to reach more than 20 million foreign visitors, pertaining to an increase of 60-70 percent for the whole of this year.
On the other hand, the number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell by 71.74 percent to 12.73 million in 2020.
In the meantime, positive signals are observed to be coming from Russia and Ukraine and the first groups of tourists are expected to to come to Turkey from mid-April.
Accelerated immunization activities and steps that are being taken in the direction of “Safe Travel” in Europe seem to be supporting expectations in this regard. It is also considered to be very promising that great progress in vaccination has been made in UK which is Turkey’s largest markets. In fact, Turkey is expected to be one of the most preferred destinations for British citizens this summer.
