Turkey Says Crisis with "Israel" Increased Tourism: Thousands of Tourists Leave but Millions Come

After the Zionist navy deadly raid against Freedom Flotilla, which led to the death of nine Turkish activists, Turkey cut off its relations with the Zionist entity. In return, "Israel" prevented its settlers from touring this summer in Turkey, which according to Zionist analysis would lead to deteriorated profits in the Turkish tourism sect, as "Israeli" tourists to Turkey were known to reach hundreds of thousands.

However, two months after the raid and deteriorated relations, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay assured that, "The number of "Israeli" tourists is not a number that can undermine Turkey's tourism."

"Tension between Turkey and "Israel" following the Mavi Marmara crisis would not affect the above global average growth trend in the Turkish tourism sector," he added, clarifying that, "thousands of tourists could leave, but millions of new ones would come."

In an interview with the Turkish Sunday's Zaman newspaper, Gunay reassured that, "the crisis with "Israel" has not affected the rise in tourism in Turkey, one of the few countries with a rapidly expanding tourism sector."

In another interview the paper did, Turkish Hoteliers Federation Vice Chairman Secim Aydin reassured that, "The Mavi Marmara crisis has not impaired Turkish tourism, but rather had improved it."

Aydın told Zaman that, "People who choose Turkey for hospitality, cultural values, the variety of recreational and relaxing opportunities and reasonable prices end up very happy. In response to the decline in tourists from "Israel", there has been an increase in interest in Turkey among neighboring and regional countries."

Turkish Hoteliers Federation Vice Chairman added, "True, the Mavi Marmara crisis caused "Israeli" tourists to cancel their reservations. Then we have received reservations that doubled the number of those cancellations. Therefore, problems with "Israel" after Mavi Marmara incident did not stop the rise in Turkish tourism but rather facilitated an increase."

"The streets in the city were filled with Iranian visitors. The number of visitors from Iran, which is climbing towards the top of the list of countries who send tourists to Turkey, increases every year. Likewise, the number of guests from countries such as Syria, Bulgaria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia is increasing exponentially," he revealed.

Moreover, Aydin clarified that the internationally highest growing tourism rate average in Turkey will be able to deal with both the rise in interest and the reservation cancellations.
"Our sector is not a fragile sector that will be affected by 300,000 cancellations," he said.