Russians who stopped visiting Turkey in 2016 because of the plane crisis, rushed to the Southern coasts following the normalization of relations. The number of Russians visiting Turkey in the first 7 months was over 2,5 million and 2,1 million Russians preferred Antalya. The Russians took the top spot for the first time as a result of the falling number of German tourists.

THE YEAR 2016 was quite hard for the tourism industry. About 10 million foreign tourists shifted their destination to the other countries and the loss in tourism income was calculated to be 10 billion dollars.

As we know, following the plane crisis with Russia, the visitors stopped suddenly coming, with the effect of decisions taken by the Russian government. This situation had caused serious troubles for the tourism industry and mainly, the tourism investors in Antalya depending on the Russian tourists and the secondary industries fed by the tourism, had suffered.

THE RUSSIANS TOOK THE TOP SPOT

Following the normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia which started towards the end of the year 2016, the return of Russians, mainly those in love with Antalya, has been wonderful.

During the seven months of the year 2016, only 231 thousand tourists came from Russia to Turkey whereas the same figure surged by 991 per cent to 2 million 527 thousand during the same period. In other words, the Russians not only returned simply but poured in thousands.

Yes, the Russians rushed to Turkey which they missed a lot but this time, tension arose with Europe. The deteriorating relations with Germany weighed on the number of visitors coming from this country. The number of tourists visiting Germany during the 7 months of the year, dropped by 10 per cent. A first occurred after so many years as a result of these political developments. The country sending the highest number of tourists to Turkey, changed. Thus, the Russians toppled Germany taking the top spot since long years and became leader in the first 7 months of the year. Now, the expectation is that the Russians keep this leadership until the end of the year.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Tourism, the share of Russians in the number of tourists coming to Turkey in the first 7 months of the year surged to 14,59 per cent.

Thus, the Russians are well ahead of Germans. Indeed, the number of tourists coming from Germany was 1 million 927 thousand in the first 7 months of the year. However between January-July in 2016, the number of German tourists was over 2,1 million.

79 PER CENT OF RUSSIANS CHOSE AGAIN ANTALYA

The love of Russians-rushing to hot coastal areas- for Antalya is well known. The first choice of Russian tourists was again Antalya, the capital city of tourism in Turkey. 79 per cent of Russians coming to Turkey for holiday in the first 7 months, rushed to Antalya. The number of Russians visiting Antalya between January-July, rose above 2 million. However, during the same period last year, this number was just 48 thousand. The number of Germans visiting Antalya during the same period declined by 21 per cent to 825 thousand.

2 OF EVERY 5 TOURISTS VISITING ANTALYA WERE RUSSIAN

During January-July 2017, the total number of tourists visiting Turkey surged by 21 per cent from 14,2 million to 17,3 million. This figure is of course, lower than the figures over 20 million but it somewhat gives hope for the future. 5,2 million of 17 million foreign visitors appear to have preferred Antalya. Given that 2 million of this figure consists of Russians, the share of Russian tourists coming to Antalya surged up to 38,5 per cent. In other words, almost 2 of every 5 tourists coming to Antalya are Russian. The second spot is still taken by Germans despite loss.

Though the tourism industry recovered more or less with the return of Russians, the figures are still below the year 2015 which can be considered as a golden one. Nevertheless, the occupancy rates of the hotels are pleasing. According to the figures of STR Global for July 2017, the occupancy rate surged by 97 per cent from 36,8 per cent to 72,4 per cent. And the increase in the occupancy rate reached 73,8 per cent with an increase up to 25,7 per cent.

Report July 2017” released by STR Global, the occupancy rate is seen to have increased by 64,1 per cent to 69,2 per cent. When this percentage is compared with the figures in the European countries, it’s equivalent to the highest increase. The main reason for these increases is of course, the fact that the figures in 2016 hit the bottom.

016 hit the bottom. Neither the occupancy rates nor the prices could caught up with the prices of the year 2015.