The flow of tourists from Russia to Turkey may reach figures close to 6 million people in 2023, says Ercument Unalan, CEO of the tour operator Coral Travel.
“After Covid and the start of the special operation, volumes on the outbound tourism market dramatically decreased. Plus, problems with aviation began in 2022. But this year the tourist flow is growing, and the Russian market remains the first in terms of the number of tourists in Turkey, as in all recent years,” he said.
“Of course, we have not yet reached the 2019 level in terms of the number of tourists in Turkey, but the trend is good. Taking into account that from January to August Turkey received 4,4 million Russian tourists, I think that the tourist flow at the end of the year may approach to 6 million,” - the expert added.
The head of Coral Travel noted that in general the situation in the outbound tourism market is improving. “In addition to Turkey, the UAE, Egypt, Thailand are opened. Flows are growing in all these destinations. The number of aircraft that can fly abroad is also increasing,” he specified.
In the summer of 2023, Turkey's share in the tour operator's total sales was 73%, last year - 82%, as there were few opened outbound destinations. Ten percent of sales this year came from the UAE, 9% from Egypt, and 6% from Russia.
In 2019, according to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 7 million Russian tourists visited it. In 2022, the tourist flow began to recover after the pandemic and amounted to 5 million. At the beginning of the year, the country’s embassy predicted that 6 million Russians would come to the country from January to December. From January to August 2023, the tourist flow amounted to 4,4 million people, which exceeds the level of the same period in 2022 by 45%.
