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tourism ministry showed.
Following the peak of Turkey’s coronavirus (COVID-19s) outbreak, Ankara has ramped up diplomatic efforts to attract foreign holidaymakers to the country. But the latest data suggest that those initiatives have been futile. Government officials and hoteliers in Turkey are nevertheless optimistic that both domestic and international tourism activity will pick up in the remainder of the year.
Only 4,000 Russians vacationed in Turkey in June this year versus more than 1mn a year earlier while the number of German visitors declined 89% y/y to 63,000. Turkey has been working hard to convince Russian and German officials to lift travel restrictions on Turkey. Berlin has not yet responded positively but a senior Russian foreign ministry official on July 24 confirmed earlier media reports suggesting that flights between Turkey and Russia would resume as of August 1.
Some 4.5mn foreign tourists visited Turkey in January-June, a 75% decline from the same period of 2019, the tourism ministry data also showed. Istanbul hosted 2.4mn international holidaymakers in the first half, accounting for nearly 54% of all foreign visits to the country. Around 444,000 foreign tourists visited Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, which is the favourite holiday destination of Russians heading for Turkey.
The hotel occupancy rate across Turkey retreated to 33% in H1 from 47% a year earlier, the Turkish Hotel Association, TUROB, reported.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) declined as much as 56% y/y to €19.2 and the average daily rate (ADR) for rooms dropped nearly 17% y/y to €57.7.
In Europe on average, the hotel occupancy rate was 21.6% and RevPAR was €17.7 in the first half.
The European Union showed no sign of backtracking from a decision to exclude Turkey from a list of countries recommended for non-essential travel amid the pandemic, causing Ankara to tell the bloc to correct the “mistake” as soon as possible.
Germany will regularly review its Turkey travel warning on non-essential journeys, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on July 2, adding that any decisions would be coordinated with the EU and based on reliable data on coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and the health situation in Turkey.
Cavusoglu noted that flights between Turkey and eight German cities resumed on June 11 and German tourists have started to arrive in Turkey.
Turkey is a favourite holiday destination among German nationals. More than 5mn Germans vacationed in Turkey last year, accounting for 11% of all foreign visits. In 2018, 4.5mn German nationals visited the country.
Only 396 Germans visited Turkey in May versus 410,000 a year ago, the latest data from the tourism ministry showed. In January-May, the number of German tourists hosted by Turkey plunged 71% y/y to 357,000.
The EU’s exclusion of Turkey from its “safe list” of countries is a grievous blow for a country that relies on tourism for something like around 13% of its GDP.
Istanbul hosted nearly 15mn foreign tourists last year, accounting for more than 30% of all international tourist arrivals in Turkey. In January-May, only 2.4mn foreign tourists visited the city.
Flights between Turkey and Russia that were suspended four months
72 TURKEY Country Report August 2020 www.intellinews.com
