Turkey, July tourist arrivals exceed pre-pandemic level

Tourism arrivals rose 53% year-on-year to 6.67 million in July, compared to 6.62 million in July 2019, according to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. January-July arrivals were 23 million, up 128% year on year.

The arrivals from England reached approximately 546 thousand visitors from 35 thousand annual visitors in July. In July, the most visitors came from Germany, with an increase from 744 thousand tourists to 962 thousand tourists per year. Arrivals from Russia fell from 808 thousand to 741 thousand annually in July.

The closure of borders, travel restrictions and other bans due to the coronavirus epidemic, which started in China in 2020 and spread all over the world, caused the effects of the pandemic to be felt and the collapse effect in tourism. In 2021, tourism experienced a significant revival in the summer season with the spread of the vaccine, the easing of the effect of the pandemic and the easing of bans. Accordingly, there was a significant increase in the number of foreign visitors in 2021 in the distribution by years, approaching the 2019 levels. While current reservations include the Russia-Ukraine war, we will likely be watching the impact of the large number of foreign visitors during the summer months.

When examining the effect level of the retrospective political dynamics regarding the current Russian crisis, it will be necessary to compare it with the reductions in important breaking times such as the 2014-15 Russia-Ukraine crisis and the 2015-16 Russian aircraft crisis.

Between 2014-15, the number of Russian visitors decreased by 18.5%. But the real decline occurred between 2015-16, when the plane crisis with Russia and relations with Russia were strained. While there was a 76% decrease in 2016 compared to the previous year, the share of Russia in total tourism revenues decreased to 3%. With the normalization of relations, it recovered in 2017 and there was a serious base effect in this period. The decline in 2020 is already pandemic related and has a negative impact overall.

Kaynak: Tera Yatırım- Enver Erkan
Hibya Haber Ajansı