Britain was an exception in coronavirus-reduced tourism demand from Europe for Turkey last year and if the pandemic maintains its current course, the U.K. is expected to send a large number of tourists this year as well, Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) Chairperson Firuz Bağlıkaya said Monday.
Bağlıkaya told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the travel restrictions in the U.K., one of the main markets for the Turkish tourism industry, are expected to be lifted as of March 8 in four stages.
He reiterated that according to the plan revealed by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the restrictions are expected to be completely eased by June 21. Restrictions on international travel will remain until May 17, Bağlıkaya said, while it was announced that the evaluations regarding safe travel will be announced by April 12 to reduce uncertainty for those who want to plan a summer vacation and to provide time for planning and reservations.
The industry representative emphasized that the statements from the U.K. provided momentum in both the countries' tourism industries.
"We are closely following the developments in Britain thanks to the information provided by the tour operators. Tour operators in the U.K. market said they expect a boom in demand for vacation bookings for summer. Turkey is among the top destinations for U.K. travelers," he said, noting that the resort towns in the southwestern Muğla and southern Antalya provinces along the Mediterranean coast are leading destinations for British tourists, namely Marmaris, Kaş, Kalkan, Fethiye, Ölüdeniz, Göcek and Sarıgerme.
With the pandemic, the demand for camping, caravan or yacht tourism has also increased, he added.
Bağlıkaya went on to say that although the reservations from the U.K. were mostly made for July, August and September, the most popular months for travel, they anticipate the season will extend through November this year.
Pointing out that the most important factor that would save the tourism industry is the vaccination process, Bağlıkaya said that some 221 million people have been vaccinated so far around the world.
The number is 18.9 million in the U.K., 5.5 million in Germany and 4 million in Russia. The latter two are also among the main markets of the Turkish tourism industry.
The number of vaccinated citizens in Turkey, meanwhile, has reached 8.1 million as of Feb. 25, Bağlıkaya pointed out, saying that as of the end of May, some 100 million doses of vaccines should have arrived in Turkey and that most of the population is expected to be vaccinated before the tourism season begins.
This will place Turkey among the countries with the lowest infection risk and will boost its tourism industry, he said.
Bağlıkaya said that the vaccination process is currently being carried out in European countries and Russia, which means the number of tourists coming to Turkey will likely increase by up to 70% when compared to 2020. "We are expecting that the foreign visitors’ number will reach 20 million," he said.
When Turkish citizens residing abroad are added to the figure, this number will reach 25 million, contributing around $20 billion in revenue, he said.
Stating that it is of great importance to extend the short-time work allowance support, which is expected to end in March, for the tourism sector, Bağlıkaya said: "When the pandemic is over, everything can return to normal in other sectors, but the situation in the tourism sector is a little different because time is needed for the sector’s recovery."
"The crisis we are experiencing is a deep one and a serious loss for the market," he stressed.