ISTANBUL — Britain is scrapping a quarantine requirement for Turkey this week, offering a lifeline to a tourism industry hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and snubbed by the European Union, which excluded the Mediterranean country from its “safe list” of countries for travel.
The pandemic has plunged the world’s tourism industry into free fall as countries imposed strict travel restrictions and canceled international flights earlier this year to stop the spread of the deadly disease. The United Nations said losses in tourism will shave at least 1.5% off of the global economy this year.