Turkey’s tourism sector concerned about negative impact of an eventual clash in Ukraine

The fact Turkey would have to partner with NATO member states in terms of the attitude to be displayed against Russia in Ukraine crisis in case the conflict turns out into an armed clash, has created great concern in Turkey’s tourism sector based on the reality the sector is very much dependent on big numbers of tourists the country receives from Russia which would certainly not hesitate to reiterate with a negative response in such situation.

The possible war could cost more than 10 million tourists, 10-11 billion dollars

Experts in the sector note that cancellations have started since yesterday and the eventual loss of the sector could be around US dollars 10-11 billion, if the worst scenario turned out to be true.

Same experts note following as well: “We were expecting 6.5 million tourists from the Russian Federation and 2.5 million tourists from Ukraine. However, Turkey may lose 10 million tourists and billions of dollars in revenue if tensions escalate further. Again, we estimated that about 1 million tourists would come from Turkic republics in Central Asia in connection with Russian companies. If the war breaks out or tensions grow further, we may have around 10 million tourists and $11 billion loss in revenue.”

It would be easy for Russia to implement sanctions in tourism

Same experts say if Turkey faces Russia in a possible crisis, it could suffer serious damage. Accordingly, the easiest decision on sanctions that Russia would take against Turkey would be in the field of tourism.

Emphasizing that such a possibility could lead to very bad consequences for Turkish tourism, same experts say, “There will be reductions in prices of up to 40 percent. Especially in the Antalya region, we made all our arrangements according to Russian and Ukrainian tourists. German and British tourists come in third and fourth place.”