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June 30, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Return of Russian tourists swells Turkey’s visitor numbers
bne IntelliNews
Turkey’s foreign arrivals data showed growth on an annual basis for the second consecutive month in May, with the return of Russian tour- ists to the country in the wake of the Ankara- Moscow rapprochement very much driving the expansion. The number of European tourists choosing to holiday in Turkey, however, contin- ued to dwindle.
Overall, Turkey’s tourism tally rose by 16% y/y to 2.89mn vistors in the month following up on the first annual growth recorded since July 2014 in April, tourism ministry data showed on June 29. However, the April and May figures still trailed the 2015 figures for the same months, although they did outperform the given monthly totals registered in 2016.
Turkey experienced a general and dramatic de- cline in arrivals during 2016 as anxieties spread over a rash of terrorist attacks and Russia placing restrictions on charter flights to Turkish airports after falling out with Ankara over the shooting down of a Russian jet near the Syr
ian border in November 2015. The International Monetary Fund estimated that the substantial reduction in arrivals took a percentage point off GDP growth in the year.
Across January-May, a total of 8.76mn foreign tourists visited the country, a 6% increase on
a year ago, thanks to the April and May growth.
In April, the number of Russian tourists jumped by 1,384% y/y to 608,472, while across the first five months of the year 928,376 Russian tourists arrived in Turkey, up 572% compared with the same period of 2016.
The spike in the Russian tourist visitor rate reflected the positive effects of the Ankara-Mos- cow rapprochement process launched last sum- mer. Russia was Turkey’s number one foreign tourist source both in May and in January-May. Data also showed that the number of Euro- pean tourists visiting Turkey fell by 20% y/y
to 1.12mn in May and declined by 17% y/y to 3.44mn across January-May.