Turkey’s annual revenues from Russian tourists stood at $10 bln — Russian tourism watchdog

Turkey's annual revenues from Russian tourists stood at $10 bln, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism (Rostourism) Oleg Safonov said on Thursday. "More than 4.400 mln Russian tourists used to visit Turkey each year while the country's annual revenues from them stood at around $10 bln," Safonov said, adding that the country will "obviously not be receiving those funds anymore." He pointed out that the Russian president said relations between Turkey and Russia will be revised, which Safonov said obviously means "this will have serious long-term implications, in this case for tourism." As TASS reported earlier after a terror attack in Egypt and an incident in Turkey Russia’s tourism watchdog will consider offering alternative destinations within the country to tourists. On Wednesday, Oleg Safonov said Rostourism recommended Russians not to visit Turkey due to terrorist threat. "We have received a recommendation from the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Ministry recommended refraining from visits to Turkey as terrorism threat there is no less than in Egypt," he said. Russia’s Su-24 warplane was downed by an air-to-air missile launched from a Turkish F-16 fighter jet when it was at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a distance of one kilometer from the Turkish border. Ankara claims the Russian warplane had violated Turkey’s air space while the Russian Defense Ministry says the Su-24 was flying above Syria.