Russian tourist flow to Turkey fell a thousand times

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey has published statistics on tourism for May. Due to the closed borders and the suspension of flights, the Russian tourist flow fell by almost 1 000 times in annual terms.

If a year ago in May the country received more than 4 million foreign guests, then in May of this year, the incoming tourist flow amounted to only about 30 thousand people. Russia is not in the TOP-5 of the source markets: Bulgaria is the leader (6 785 people), followed by Georgia, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia.

Despite the closed borders, in May, 964 Russian citizens entered Turkey. In May 2019, Turkey hosted more than 963 thousand Russians. Thus, the Russian tourist flow in the most popular foreign destination fell by almost 1 000 times.

The statistics on foreign tourists for the first 5 months of 2020 are not so bad due to the active tourist flow in January-February. In January-May, 4,29 million foreign tourists visited Turkey. So, the tourist flow decreased by 66,35% compared to the same period of the  last year.

The most popular destinations in Turkey among Russian travelers in January-May were Istanbul, Edirne and Antalya.

In 2019, more than 7 million Russians visited Turkey, including almost 6 million people at the resorts of Antalya. According to the Turkish side, Turkish Airlines will resume flights to Russia in July.