/ world today news/ Turkish experts predict losses of nearly 2.5 billion dollars for the tourism industry and point to the decrease in the number of Russian tourists as one of the main reasons, writes the site antalyatoday.ru
According to the estimates of the president of the Association of Hoteliers and Investors of the Mediterranean Region Yusuf Hadjisuleiman, the number of Russian tourists in the first half of this year has decreased by 30% compared to the same period last year. Even the most popular among Russian tourists, the Turkish resort of Antalya, has seen a total drop of 450,000 tourists since the beginning of the year. “By the end of the season, this figure could reach 1 million people,” the site’s post said.
“The decrease in the number of tourists will lead to a 10% decrease in employment in the district. Our country needs not only the income from tourism, this industry is very important for public life, because tourism is a sector that provides young people with many jobs. The tourism industry in Antalya employs 189,000 people,” Hajisüleyman points out.
Turkish resorts are currently seeing an increase in British, American and German tourists, while only Russian tourists are seeing a decline. Experts are convinced that the problem is also compounded by the fact that Turkey’s neighboring countries, which are its tourism competitors, are trying to portray it as a dangerous place where war is being waged, even though the war is in neighboring Syria.
According to data published by the Federal Tourism Agency of Russia, Turkey was the most popular destination among Russian tourists in the first half of 2014. Then Turkey was visited by 1.4 million tourists from Russia.
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