Antalya sees ‘worst June’ in terms of foreign arrivals with 98 pct of loss in Russian tourists

In the face of the diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Russia and the escalating security concerns amid a number of suicide bomb attacks across the country, the number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya had already dropped by 96 percent and German tourists by 30 percent in the first five months of the year compared to the same period of 2015. 

According to data from the Antalya Airport, the number of foreign arrivals at the resort saw a 58.7 percent drop from June 1 to June 16 from the same period of 2015, decreasing to 302,522. The number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya declined to 3,517 in the same period, a 98.5 percent decrease from the same period of 2015. A total of 318,000 Russians visited the resort in the first half of June in 2014. 

The number of German tourists visiting Antalya between June 1 and June 16 this year decreased to 117,845, a 45 percent decline compared to the same period of 2015, the data showed. 


Arrivals from Ukraine soar

As the number of arrivals from many other European countries also declined by more than half in the mentioned period, arrivals from some markets however saw a significant increase. For instance, the number of Ukrainian tourists visiting the resort between June 1 and June 16 increased almost 100 percent to 42,101 compared to the same period of 2015. 

“Due to the continuing economic problems in Ukraine, we have lured fewer Ukrainian tourists than we had earlier expected. We have unfortunately been in the middle of a quite problematic tourism season with a loss of over 50 percent in the number of visitors,” said the head of the Professional Hotel Managers Association (POYD), Ali Kızıldağ. 

Tourism representatives in the resort said that they had already focused on alternative markets after the crisis erupted with Russia, but the rising security concerns hit their strategic plans. 

“We made a plan in a bid to attract more tourists from European countries, but the security concerns have ruined our plans. June has become a month when we have seen the worst effects of these problems as tourism players, with additional factors such as the Euro Cup, the late closing of the school year and the continuance of the holy month of Ramadan,” said Susesi Luxury Resort General Manager İsmail Tirali.