Turkey's tourism industry is under serious threat following the crisis with Russia, continuing clashes in southeast Turkey and bomb explosions in Ankara and Istanbul. It is now clear that the roughly 4 million Russian tourists who have been Turkey’s loyal visitors are not coming this year.
Recent figures released by the Turkish Census Bureau indicate that in 2015, tourism revenues dropped 8.3% compared to 2014, from $34.3 billion to $31.5 billion. Meanwhile, the number of Turkish citizens traveling abroad increased from 7,982,000 in 2014 to 8,750,000 in 2015, and the tourism expenditure increased from $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion.
