-Russian tourism agency awaits Turkey’s 'official confirmation'
Measures implemented against the spread of the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) brought global tourism to a halt. With progress made to ease restrictions in recent weeks, countries are now expediting preparations for the tourist season.
Turkey is among the world's leading tourist destinations and is preparing for the season. Last year more than 6 million Russian tourists visited Turkey. Turkey is now anxiously waiting for steps to be taken by the authorities in Russia to allow Russian tourists to travel.
Last week, a critical statement came from the President of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency (Rosturizm) Zarina Doguzova who said in an interview with the RBK channel that the Russian authorities would not impose restrictions on Russians willing to travel abroad.
“The current measures are all about the protection from the epidemic. There will be no artificial barriers for citizens to go abroad,” he said.
“We need to enter a very rapid growth process and make some non-standard decisions,” he said referring to plans to compensate for losses in Russia’s tourist industry up to the end of 2021 because of Covid-19.
With regards to when Turkey will accept Russian tourists, Doguzov said that 'Turkey stated that it may accept tourists from Russia in July, but we have not received an official confirmation from the Turkish authorities for such a timetable. Russian tourists will certainly not able to go to Turkey in June. Even if we are ready to send Russians to Turkey, they are not ready in Turkey at the moment. In the future, we will look at the situation and make a decision.”
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russia plans to restart international flights to 15 countries from July 15 including Turkey.