Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that they will continue to carefully monitor the pandemic situation in countries popular with Russian tourists, including Turkey.
Putin reiterated that the restrictions regarding Russian vacationers’ traveling to Turkey have no political dimension but rather that they follow the situation in the tourism sector.
He earlier agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the two countries will be able to revive tourism traffic thanks to the measures Turkey is taking to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
"In their shared opinion, the anti-pandemic measures will help drastically improve the situation and resume bilateral ties in the tourism sector," the Kremlin was cited as saying by Russian news agency Tass earlier this week after the two presidents talked over the phone.
The phone call included the discussion of the potential production of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine by Turkish enterprises and the supplies of that vaccine to Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkey is currently expecting a Russian delegation on tourism safety in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya in the second half of May to demonstrate the measures undertaken by Ankara.
Turkey hopes to welcome the delegation to the country so that they can see first hand the measures implemented for the healthy functioning of tourism and to protect vacationers from the COVID-19 outbreak, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Nadir Alpaslan said Thursday.
Moscow said earlier it was suspending most air travel with Turkey, a popular destination for millions of Russian tourists, from April 15 to June 1, citing rising coronavirus infections. Industry representatives have since requested the flight restriction decision be revised, suggesting the move would also affect tourists.
Meanwhile, the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) head said previously that Russians remained committed to their plans for holidays in Turkey's resort cities despite the flight restrictions.
