Türkiye expects an increase in arrival of Russian tourists

Friday, May 19, 2023

The Russian Tourism Industrialists’ Association said the demand from Russian tourists for holidays in Türkiye fell short of expectations in May.

However, Russian visitors are expected to increase, especially after May, the association said.

Due to the “attractive” prices in Türkiye, it is expected that the demand for holiday packages will increase in the coming months.

According to media reports, Vladimir Kaganer, Deputy General Manager of Tez Tour, “Insufficiently high prices led to the departure of Russian tourists in April.

Much less than the Turks expected, there were Russians during the May holidays.

Prices have dropped, now they are really very affordable, prices for premium hotels have dropped by an average of 15% in 5-star luxury hotels and by 30-40% in budget hotels. The market has reacted very positively to this.

While the second half of May has traditionally been seen as a failure due to low demand, we can no longer complain about it.”

Sergey Agafonov, head of the PCT commission on agency activities of the Union of the Russian Tourism Industry and general manager of the Hot Voyage Store network said, “We are now seeing an average of 30% decline for the market and even more pronounced for individual packages. There is interest in packages for a maximum of one week. Of course, there are orders for more distant dates, but the vast majority buy tours on the eve of departures”.

Türkiye attracted some 44.6 million foreign tourists in 2022, a rise of 80.3% from a year earlier. More than 5.2 million Russian tourists visited especially holiday regions such as Antalya, Mugla, and Izmir, the Culture and Tourism Ministry reported.

Türkiye aims to attract 60 million foreign tourists in 2023, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said in January in a press conference.

Separately, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed that Türkiye generated $46.3 billion in tourism income last year. The average expenditure per capita was $901 in 2022.

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