Turkish authorities plan to increase subsidies for flights with tourists from Russia

In 2018 Turkey is going to significantly increase the financial subsidy of Russian tour operators, which send tourists to the rest in this country. As the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Numan Kurtulmush said, the volume of the subsidy will be increased by 150 % - from 6 to 9 thousand dollars for one airplane with passengers. In the high season, the sum of the subsidy will remain the same - 4 to 6 thousand dollars. "We have sent this proposal to the government and after adoption it will immediately come into force. On the Turkish market in Russia a lot of serious tour operators are working and we are supporting them", - the minister said. He added that this year Turkey expects to host about five million Russian tourists. And he recalled that in 2017 the Turkish resorts were visited by 4.5 million Russians. According to the market participants, the present prospects of increasing of tourists flow from Russia are rather doubtful. They stated that in 2017 they noted the factor of deferred demand for the direction, in addition - the hoteliers provided substantial discounts for accommodation in order to return Russian tourists to their resorts. It is unlikely that hoteliers will continue such policy in the coming summer. In 2018 Turkey may face a serious rival, if Hurghada and Sharm-el-Sheikh will be opened. Russian tourists who become bored with this direction will go there even in the summer, which will certainly lead to an outflow from the Turkish resorts. So, the experts predict that it will be possible to reach the level of five million Russian tourists in Turkey only in favorable market conditions.