Turkey without Russians. Coronavirus or politics?

Turkey was left without Russian tourists for a month and a half

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The Russian authorities have limited regular and charter flights with Turkey from April 15 to June 1, 2021,

Turkey and its tourism industry have been hit hard. On April 12, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced that from April 15 to June 1, 2021, Russian tourists will not be allowed into Turkey.

In Russia, they say that the whole thing is in the coronavirus pandemic, which is now especially rampant in Turkey, but a number of experts saw big politics in Moscow’s decision.

Half a million without rest

About half a million Russians planned to travel to Turkey from April 15 to June 1, said Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

500 thousand people bought vouchers during this period from the largest tour operators, and another 100 thousand people from medium and niche tour operators who switched to Turkey due to the closure of other destinations.

The cost of booked tours to Turkey for the period until June 1 was estimated at 32 billion rubles.

“Many hotels will not wait for their guests. Airlines will miss their passengers. The situation is complicated by the fact that the restrictions were introduced on the eve of the May holidays. During this period, Turkey is very popular with Russian tourists. For many hotels, it makes no sense to organize show programs, because today they will be hit by a flurry of cancellations of booked rooms that can no longer be filled in 2.5 weeks left before the holidays, ”says Alexander Frenkel from the travel company Argo Travel.

Coronavirus

The Russian authorities say they are stopping the tourist flow due to the coronavirus. About 80% of “imported” cases of coronavirus in Russia are accounted for by those who arrived from Turkey, said the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, citing statistics from August 1, 2020. According to her, the Russians bring from Turkey “a variety of mutating strains”, the epidemiological situation in the republic has been deteriorating since the beginning of March, and cases of infection with the British strain of coronavirus are registered in every province of the country.

Although earlier Popova said that the coronavirus was detected in 1% of Russians who returned from abroad – in 25 thousand people since the beginning of 2021.

Politics

The decision on tourists was preceded by a statement from Moscow after a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

Turkey reported that it is concerned about the development of the situation in Donbass and is ready to provide Ukraine with “any necessary support” to ease tensions in this region.

“To all responsible countries with which we communicate, Turkey is one of them, we strongly recommend analyzing the situation, the eternal militant statements of the Kiev regime and warn them against feeding militaristic sentiments,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

But the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the situation with the restriction of flights is not related to politics, but is of an epidemiological nature and is associated with a rather sharp outbreak of the incidence in Turkey.

Do Ukrainians win?

But after the cancellation of vouchers for Russians, the cost of tours to Turkey for Ukrainians may change.

“It could be dumping from those hotels that have opened and said they will work this season. They can lower the check, and if there are too few reservations, they can introduce special offers. The cost is unlikely to rise. Because even in 2020, when hotels began to open and fill only 50%, they said that they would not raise the cost of rooms, ”suggests an expert in the field of tourism Olga Yanchenko.

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