Russia suspends flights to Turkey, blow to tourism sector

Moscow's move hits Turkey's tourism industry hard, which relied on Russian tourists to get the season off to a good start.

OZAN ​​KOSE AFP / File

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3 min

Earlier this week, Russia announced the suspension of flights to Turkey from Thursday April 15 until June 1.

This decision, officially justified by the record number of Covid-19 contaminations in Turkey (62,800 new cases on Wednesday), made people cringe, Ankara suspecting Moscow of sanctioning its rapprochement with Ukraine.

Whether health or political, this decision hits the Turkish tourism sector hard, which relied on Russian tourists to get the season off to a good start.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul

,

Anne Andlauer

Around 800,000: this is the number of Russian tourists that Turkey hoped to welcome by June 1, especially in the South, in its large hotels overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

According to Tolga Gencer, a leading member of the Union of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), Moscow's decision comes at a very bad time.

“ 

The month of May is a time when Russians travel because they have a lot of public holidays,”

explains Tolga Gencer.

So we had a lot of bookings for May, all of which had to be postponed or canceled. 

"

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Also to listen: Tourism: 2020, a year of desolation

In 2020, Turkish tourism revenues fell by 65%.

The sector expected an improvement this spring, betting on a decline in the epidemic.

Instead, the number of new cases is breaking a record every day.

“ 

The main problem,”

continues Tolga Gencer, “

is that the vaccination campaign has not yet reached the expected level.

This is not unique to Turkey, but it does mean that the epidemic is still having very heavy effects.

We thought the season would start in April-May and end at the end of August.

We now hope that it will start in June and end in November.

 "

Tolga Gencer wants to believe that flights with Russia will resume in early June, thanks to the containment measures imposed during Ramadan and the progress of the vaccination campaign, which has recently affected tourism professionals.

Unless, of course, Moscow's decision is primarily political.

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See also: Ukraine: against Moscow, Turkey supports Kiev and seems to be getting closer to the West

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  • Coronavirus

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  • Russia