Russian tourists loved winter Turkey

“In January 2018, 1.5 million tourists came to Turkey, which is almost 40% more than in the last year”, - reported the Tourism Review portal with reference to the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic, The share of Russian travelers increased significantly in the first month of the year, 68,000 Russians come to Turkey in January. This is 70% more than the amount for the same month of 2017 (40 thousand people). Nevertheless, Russian tourists are only on the fifth position among tourists from the other countries. The most frequent visitors to Turkey in January were Iranians (154 thousand people), Georgians (151 thousand), Bulgarians (119 thousand) and Germans (87 thousand). According to observers, in the case of winter Turkey, it concerns primarily independent tourists. This is confirmed by the published statistics: the portal reported that more than half of tourists visited Turkey in January arrived to Istanbul. According the leading travel agencies, this year winter Turkey actually is selling more actively than before. For example, according to the Reservation Center (a partner of the United Network of TBG and Hot Tours companies), the growth of sales amounted 30% in comparison with the last year. According to Maria Leshcheva-Konabeeva, the Marketing Director of TBS Group - this year there were even requests for ski holidays in this country, which had not previously been observed. In particular, experts explain this success by the fact that the authorities of the Republic have extended the program of subsidizing flights during the "low" season. As a result - the tours to winter Turkey in January were sold cheaper than air tickets. This year the Turkish authorities expect 36 million tourists, which is 3.6 million more than last year's results. According to their forecasts, approximately 5 million of them will be the Russian citizens (in 2017 - 4.7 million).