Turkey is actively commenting on the possible resumption of flights with Russia. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismayiloglu said that the two countries had agreed to restore air traffic. According to representatives of the Turkish tourism industry, the return of the largest inbound market - Russia (7 million Russian tourists in 2019) will allow the tourism sector to rise.
Germany, the second largest market for Turkey (5,5 million people), imposed a ban on travel to Turkey until August 31.
British tourists are returning to Turkey from July 15. So far, British citizens fly only to Dalaman on the Turkish Airlines flights.
According to hoteliers, if the Russian market opens in August, the 2020 season will actively continue till November. If the situation is favorable, Turkey expects at least to reach the indicators of arrivals from the Russian Federation such as were in August-December 2019.
As the Turkish Ministry of Tourism reported, over the past 5 months of 2019, 3,265 million tourists arrived from Russia. In August last year, Turkey was visited by 1,078 million Russians, in September – 1,071 million, in October – 791,7 thousand, in November – 192,7 thousand, in December – 130,5 thousand.
Taking into account the fact that we are talking only about regular flights, and, possibly (at the first stage) not to Antalya, the forecast of 3 million tourists seems overstated.
There is another point of view - according to the head of Anex Group Neshet Kochkar, we note a huge demand for Turkey in the Russian market, so the forecast for 3 million Russian tourists by the end of the year may be exceeded.
Mr. Kochkar emphasizes that this indicator depends on the number of hotels that will open in the 2020 season. Earlier, Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy said that he would be happy if 50% of the hotels in Turkey will start working this summer.
In an interview with Turkish media, Neshet Kochkar noted that Anex Tour has planned to launch the first charter flight from Russia to Turkey on 25 July.
