The war in Ukraine ‘hits’ tourism in Turkey

The Turkish tourism industry was hit by the war in Ukraine. The Russian invasion hit the tourism sector of Turkey. The war initially halted detentions from Ukraine, followed by cancellations by Russia.

Serdar Kartsiliuglou, president of the Association of Professional Hotel Managers of Alikarnassos, says that “this war is pushing deeper into the recession our tourism, which has already bottomed out”.

The industry had already been hit hard by the pandemic. In 2021, 27.3% of tourists came from Russia and Ukraine. These two countries offset the decline in the European market. But could the situation be reversed now?

Big problems with planes

“Our customers from Russia come here for the hot weather and not for cultural tourism. But now Europeans, for example, but also Canadians, Americans or Australians may not come to Istanbul, because when they look at the map, they see the “Black Sea between us and Russia and they may think we are close to each other,” said Hassan Duzen, owner of the Empress Istanbul store, which sells Turkish carpets.

Not all bookings from Russia have been canceled, but the lack of flights remains a major obstacle. Ozgen Izal, from the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies points out:

“Aircraft registered in Russia may be recalled by leasing companies in Europe. That is why they cannot fly at the moment. Private airlines and the Russian national airline Aeroflot have big problems. Boeing and Airbus have said that “In other words, even if there are millions of reservations, when the plane can not fly due to missing parts, tourists would not have the opportunity to come from Russia by boat or bus.”

Great damage

Future bookings from Russia may not be possible. The situation is difficult for Turkish travel agents such as Ismail Gitman. “A group was supposed to arrive in Turkey in two months, but we could not receive the money, so it was canceled because remittances via SWIFT were stopped,” he said. “We had already paid for the hotels. I lost money. It is also not clear when the others would come. We lost a lot due to the cancellation of these tourist groups.”

Russians can not use Visa and Mastercard credit cards in Turkey. However, Russia’s Mir payment system and China’s OnionPay are still working. 28% of Russian cards use the Mir system and some banks in Turkey are included in this system. Russian tourists without cards should have enough cash.

Bazak Cezen

Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou

Source: Deutsche Welle

Source: Capital

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