Fear of terrorism caused massive decline of Turkish tourism

Eurasia News

Fear of terrorism caused massive decline of Turkish tourism

 

Ankara, Turkey – The fear of expected terrorism in Turkey and uncertain political situation in Turkey has started brining adverse results to Turkish tourism as income coming from tourism industry has shown a decreased by 13.8 percent in the second quarter of the year. The total amount decrease is $7.73 billion compared to the same period of the previous year.

Fear of terrorism caused massive decline of Turkish tourism
Fear of terrorism caused massive decline of Turkish tourism

According to data received from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), foreign tourists spending was an average of $911 per capita in the first quarter of the year 2015 while this figure has decreased to $719 in the second quarter.

Major reasons of decrease in international tourism in Turkey is rising security concerns due to the possibility of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)  and of course adverse political situation in the country.

The tourism income was around $4.87 billion in the first quarter of the year, a 1.3 percent increase from the same period of 2014 but now constant decline has been reported in tourism income.

According to data from the Turkish Tourism Ministry, the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey decreased to 1.45 million in the first half of the year from 2 million in the same period of 2014. The number of foreign tourists from France also decreased by 22.3 percent, with the number from Italy decreasing by 19.5 percent, in the first half of the year, compared to the previous year.

The highest number of tourists came from Germany in the first half of the year, with around 2 million, followed by Russia, with 1.45 million, and Britain, with around 950,000, according to the ministry’s data.

The head of the Hoteliers Association (TUROB), Timur Bayındır, told Reuters in May that the decrease in Russian tourists was expected to continue in the coming months, while Western tourists were concerned by ISIL in the region.

Before the geopolitical risks rose to unprecedented heights, industry representatives set tourism income for the year at around $30 billion to $35 billion. This figure, however, is now expected to decrease with the rising security concerns.

The net tourism income financed around 53 percent of the country’s current account gap at $46.5 billion in 2014.

Turkey is popular now as a gateway for Jihadi trail starting from Europe and ending inside Syria. Thousands of European Jihadis reportedly entered Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria through Turkey.