The coronavirus pandemic affected the tourism statistics already in the first quarter of 2020. Russian tourist flow to Turkey in March decreased by 44%, the decrease in the number of arrivals from European countries is even more noticeable.
In March, due to the closure of borders for the fight against COVID-19, Turkey lost almost 65% of its foreign tourists in annual terms. The country was visited by about 968,5 thousand foreign guests. Russian entered the TOP-5 entry markets, becoming the second.
In March, 78 380 of the Russians visited Turkey, which is 44% less than in the same period of 2019. At the same time, the Russians were only one hundredth percent behind the first position of Bulgarians (78 677 arrivals, - 62%).
In the third place in terms of the number of arrivals are Germany (almost 75 thousand, - 61%), followed by Georgia (63 thousand, -55%) and Great Britain (almost 30 thousand, -55%).
According to the results of January-March 2020, foreign flow to Turkey fell by 22% to 4,2 million people. Unlike other markets, the number of arrivals from Russia decreased in annual terms to a minimum: less than 1%. This was due to significantly exceeding last year’s indicators of tourist flow from the Russian Federation in January and February 2020.
In total, 316 166 Russian citizens traveled to Turkey in the first quarter of 2020. In the overall entry statistics the Russian Federation is in the fourth place - with a market share of 7,46%.
In the first place is Bulgaria (393 thousand, -18%), then Germany (356 thousand, -16,6%), Georgia (328 thousand, - 11,6%) and in the fifth place is Iran (220 thousand, - 51%).
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI), following to the results of the 1st quarter, tourism revenues decreased by 11,4% to $ 4,1 billion. 80,6% of tourism income was received from foreign guests and 19,4% from citizens living abroad.
