The country ' s tourist industry showed a decline before the imposition of Russian sanctions

In Turkey, some 1,300 hotels were sold on the coasts of the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea. Such data are provided by the opposition Turkish edition Today's Zaman, linking the situation with the effects of Russian anti-Turkish sanctions and the decline in tourism flows due to the low level of security in the Middle East country. How reliable are the daily newspaper figures?

Photo: Lilija Sharlovsky

In particular, Today's Zaman writes that 410 sold hotels are located in Antalya, 349 in Mugla. Five more provinces of Turkey, where tourism is being conducted, are also reported. The total cost is $10 billion. Among the causes that affected the tourism crisis, the publication referred to Moscow sanctions and the attack in the centre of Istanbul. However, according to the newspaper, a number of hotels were at the edge of bankruptcy because of Russian prohibitions.

IC requested analysts to assess reports of the sale of Turkish hotels.

Vice-President of the Association of Russian Tour Operators (ATOR) Abstention of comments. It's very difficult to comment. We don't have sufficient information to analyse this properly, and he explained in his conversation with the MK.

The Turkish expert interviewed by IC questioned the exact figures. " This information seems to me to be exaggerated, " IC " stated Assistant Professor, University of Economics and Technology, TOBB, Ankara Togrul Ismail. - 1,300. hotels for sale - it's too big numbers. It may not be hotels, but hotel complexes with structures. "

The Turkish expert also pointed out that the Turkish tourist industry crisis had been recorded prior to the imposition of Russian sanctions: " The crisis with Russian tourists was last year because of European and American sanctions against Russia and the fall of the rouble. It is hoped that, without Moscow ' s sanctions, the flow of tourists from Russia would decrease even further this year. In addition, the crisis is taking place throughout the world. I don't know where this information came from, but there's no sensation in Turkey. The tourism sector is already experiencing some decline. At this point, this is not related to Russian sanctions. "

We will recall that Russia has imposed sanctions against Turkey after Turkish aircraft hit Russian Su-24 at the end of November 2015. The Russian side not only lifted the visa regime with Turkey, but also prohibited Russian tour operators from selling travel to the country.