Number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey down 47 pct

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey plunged 46.86 percent in December 2015 because of the crisis that emerged after Turkey downed a Russian military jet that violated its airspace. The number of Russian tourists dropped to 25,485 in December 2015 from 47,954 in the same month of 2014.

Moreover, the percent of Russian tourists among all tourists in Turkey declined to 1.74 percent last year from 3 percent in 2014.

A total of 36 million tourists visited Turkey throughout 2015, yet tourism fell 18.53 percent compared to the previous year. The ratio of Russian tourists fell to 10.07 percent from 12.16 percent last year.

Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 military jet on Nov. 24, 2015, on the grounds that it violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border. Moscow implemented several sanctions on Turkey like banning Turkish goods and not giving work permits to Turkish workers.

The Russian government also called on its citizens to not travel to Turkey, which is a famous holiday spot for the cold-country's people with its warm beaches.