Declining number of tourist visit hit Turkey in April

The number of tourists visiting Turkey declined by 28.1 percent in April, compared to visitors in April 2015, hence this number fall to the results in 1999. According to the report of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkey welcomed 1.75 million visitors in the fourth month of this year, while in 2015 2.4 million people visited the country.

The majority of visitors consists of Russian and German citizens, however, due to the straining Russian-Turkish relations, the incoming Russian tourist results fall with 79 percent, while 35.5 percent fewer Germans visited Turkey. Hungarian visitors also didn’t favor the Western Asian state, which produced a 55 percent decrease compared to the 2015 results.

Turkey has suffered from several terrorist attacks since last year, including two suicide bomber attacks in the tourist-favored Istanbul in January, killing 12 German, 3 Israeli and an Iranian citizen in overall. While the Southeastern region of the country is advised against all travel by certain states, major tourist destinations were safe to travel until attacks hit Istanbul since last July.

Tourism and national security experts believe that summer months will produce even worse results as intelligence services received information about terrorist threats. Due to these threats, governments have released travel advice urging tourists to avoid certain regions and citizens and to be vigilant during their visit.