Turkish foreign minister expects boom in Chinese visitors

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

Tourism destinations in Turkey may see a flood of Chinese visitors as Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said the visa process for the Asian giant’s citizens have been eased.

“Turkey had made it obligatory for Chinese citizens to have a Schengen visa or that from an OECD country to get an electronic visa to Turkey,” Çavuşoğlu said March 7, while addressing nongovernmental organizations and tourism sector representatives at a meeting of the Alanya Chamber of Trade and Industry (ALTSO) in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

“Now we have left that and we expect a boom,” he said.

Until now, 6.5 million people have entered Turkey with a newly developed electronic visa system, he added.

Commenting on the concerns of the tourism sector, mainly due to the crises in neighboring countries including Russia, Iraq and Syria, he said the country would not suffer this year as it did in past years.

Bookings from several countries have already risen as the number of visitors to Turkey in January surpassed the figures the same month a year earlier, Çavuşoğlu said.