Source::APN
AP/RSS
Hotels in Turkey’s popular Antalya region are ready to reopen after Moscow announced it was lifting flight restrictions to Turkey. Tourism representatives are hoping that their sector — a key component of the Turkish economy — can now recover some of its losses.
A spring COVID-19 spike in Turkey, when daily infections hit a record high of 63,000, drew travel warnings. The U.K. and France put Turkey on their red lists requiring returning tourists to quarantine, and Russia suspended flights in April.
The fear of another missed season prompted the government to exclude tourists from what they called a “full lockdown” for Turks. Tourism workers got priority in vaccinations and the tourism ministry shared a promotional video of mask-wearing staff that said “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated.” The video was taken down after a public outcry on social media, with some people saying it presented Turks as subservient to foreign visitors.
With daily infections down to a 7-day average of 5,645, some countries reassessed their travel warnings this month. France and Germany have removed Turkey from the high-risk list and on Tuesday Russia resumed flights — with Turkish TV stations providing live coverage of the first Russians landing.
The industry is hoping that Britain, Turkey’s third-largest tourism market, will also remove the country from its red list.
Turkey’s civil aviation updated its requirements on June 21, saying a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival would be required for travelers who have not been fully vaccinated or cannot show proof of recovery from COVID-19.
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