The original new reason for the collapse of the tourist flow from Russia was identified by high-ranking Turkish officials. According to them, Russian tourists are afraid to go to Turkey after the opposition announced that as soon as it comes to power, it will immediately impose Western-style sanctions against Russia. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made such an explanation in the Turkish press. True, according to Russian experts, the influence of local politics on a typical “Turkish” tourist from Russia is greatly exaggerated. And the reason for such a statement by the minister is the imminent presidential elections in Turkey, scheduled for May 14.
“We have a problem this year. The May holidays are the start of the tourist season in Russia. And if in previous years many Russian tourists came to Antalya in early May, this year we do not see such a number. There are few Russian tourists,” admitted Mr. Cavusoglu. But when asked who is to blame, he answered – “irresponsible statements by the opposition.”
“Opposition parties say: if we are elected on May 14, we will impose sanctions against Russia. As a result, for the first time in May of this year, the number of Russian tourists is much lower than the number of Russian tourists in previous years, as Russians are worried about the risk that the planes will not take off and therefore be unable to return to their country when they arrive in Antalya, ”the statement was quoted as saying. head of the Foreign Ministry in the Turkish media.
Russian experts of the tourist market, however, were critical of him and called it “political agitation” for internal use. The average “Turkish” tourist from Russia, in principle, is not interested in Turkish politics, respectively – he does not read local news and has no idea about the statements of the opposition. Most tourists do not know at all that there is this very opposition in Turkey, and the fact that in May in Turkey only a negligible part of the tourists knows the elections – they are sure.
As for the decline in the tourist flow, which really is, it was caused much more objective reasons. Firstly, the reason was a sharp rise in the price of hotels due to the wildest inflation in Turkey. This is multiplied by the reduced solvency of the Russian tourist – as a result, the demand for holidays in May in Turkey has clearly fallen without any political “subtext”.
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