Intel: Turkey's tourism sector sets hopes on June kick start

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement that the government aims to relax COVID-19 restrictions and start returning to normal life at the end of Ramadan has raised the hopes of the country’s ailing tourism sector.
Tourists wearing face masks sit and stand on Galata bridge in Istanbul, on March 13, 2020, amid the outbreak of COVID-19, the new coronavirus. - Turkey said on March 12 it would shut all schools for two weeks and bar spectators from football matches through April after recording its first case of the new coronavirus. The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has risen to 5,043, according to an AFP tally based on official sources at 1100 GMT on March 13. Since COVID-19 was first detected in December 2019,
Tourists take in the view from Galata Bridge amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Istanbul, Turkey, March 13, 2020. - OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 21 announced that the government aims to relax COVID-19 restrictions and return to normal life by the end of Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of Ramadan, fueling the hopes of the country’s severely ailing tourism sector.

Why it matters: Leading figures in Turkey's tourism industry have been pinning their hopes on a kick start to tourist season in June, after the monthslong imposition of international and national COVID-19 restrictions that have paralyzed the industry. Remarks by Erdogan on April 20-21 give them additional reason to hope. In Turkey, Ramadan starts April 24, and the Eid al-Fitr begins May 24. 

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