Turkey Efforts to Double Tourist Numbers in 2021 Thans Last Year
By granting priority to the tourism workers and encouraging tourism, Turkey wishes to host twice as many tourists in 2021 than last year. By prioritizing vaccinating the tourist workers, Turkey intends on staying a step ahead of its competitors in the field of tourism. The initiation of the program is assumed to take Turkey ahead of the southern European countries.
The pandemic had cut down the number of tourist revenues by two-thirds from that of last year. Tourism holds 12% of the Turkish economy ranking it sixth tourist-oriented country Because of the lockdown, stay-at-home orders, global travel restrictions, and shut down of hotels and restaurants the rate of revenues has dropped significantly. It has come down to 12.06 Billion USD from 34.5 billion USD because of a drop of 65.01% revenue. The rate of tourists visiting Turkey has also dropped by 71.7% throughout 2020.
Turkey wishes to host 34 million foreign tourists in 2021 says Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Nadir Alpaslan. In the year 2019, the tourism sector hosted 52 million tourists which earned them a sound amount of 35 billion USD. Tourism being one of the most affected sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic, the country had to close the year 2020 with a 72% loss in the tourism sector hosting only 12 million tourists.
Over 1M workers to get jabs in major lift for Turkish tourism industry:
To cover up the loss and going back up on the track, the Turkish government has decided to vaccinate the 1.1M workers related to the Tourism sector such as agency workers, drivers, tour guides, and employees on safe tourism certificate facilities. Corabatir says that the most important factors to get back on track will be vaccination programs and decreasing the coronavirus-affected number in both Turkey and the country from where the tourists will be arriving. Starting from agents working on open facilities to all other facilities that include physical interaction will be given priority to vaccinate.
Extra value in marketing:
As the tourist season is up ahead, this move will increase the industrial influence of Turkey with foreign countries. Turkey Travel Agency (TURSAB) Chairman Firuz Baglikaya says that the cake is getting smaller, so whoever wants a piece will have to be more aggressive. The country is intensively promoting more than 70 countries to assure them that Turkey is a safe destination as well as easing its domestic lockdowns.
With an aim to complete the vaccination process and certifying business before the season starts the Turkish government wishes to boost its business competitiveness. 5000 facilities including most of the hotels have received safe travel authorization which will ensure the health and safety of the tourists throughout the tourism. Turkey has already received the first shipment of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine and has signed an agreement for 30 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines as well. The passengers who have been vaccinated in the last 72 hours will be tested upon arriving in Turkey and the temperature of each passenger will be noted too. By maintaining all the health rules Turkey plans to ensure safety to its visitors and reopen the beaches and tourist spots and slowly overcome the losses to come back to regular life.
COVID-19 Update: Turkey has introduced a new health declaration form to help stop the spread of COVID-19. All persons traveling to Turkey will now have to fill out a Form for Entry to Turkey before entering the country. The form must be filled in within the last 72 hours before travel.