Turkey Sees Tourism Boom Amid Decreasing COVID-19 Cases

Turkish tourism sector has enjoyed a boom in tourism as foreign travelers started to flow into the country after the COVID-19 daily cases significantly dropped, local media reported on Friday.

Turkey sees a 190 percent increase of tourist arrivals in June compared to the same period last year, according to the NTV broadcaster.

Kaan Kavaloglu, vice president of the Union of Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Operators, said the tourism season across the country, especially on the Mediterranean coast, might be extended until the end of the year.

Russia, the main market of Turkey's tourism sector, resumed on June 22 the flights to Turkey after the country saw a significant drop in the daily COVID-19 cases.

The tourism sector in this country also anticipates attracting more tourists from the EU zone at the end of July, Kavaloglu was quoted by the NTV as saying.

After receiving 45 million tourists in 2019 and generating a total of 34.5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, Turkey suffered losses of over 70 percent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.