Turkey removes restrictions for Indian travellers

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Turkey has relaxed all the conditions for travellers entering the country and is expecting to welcome the highest-ever number of Indian tourists this year, Turkiye Tourism Board said on Monday.

Earlier, Indian travellers were required to submit either a vaccination certificate or an RT-PCR test report to visit Turkey, according to a statement.

Now, Indian travellers no longer have to show proof of vaccination against coronavirus or proof of recovery from the disease or a negative RT-PCR test result, it added.

With both Indigo and Turkish Airlines resuming direct international flights to Turkiye, the country is expecting to welcome the highest-ever number of Indian tourists this year, it said.

Turkey’s tourism, which touched almost USD 25 billion revenues last year recording a 103 per cent growth since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to create a new record in 2022, it said.

The country emerged as one of the top destinations for Free Independent Travelers (FIT) and Meeting, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Events (MICE) tourists from around the world last year, having welcomed over 30 million international visitors in 2021, Turkiye Tourism Board stated.

Of these, 50,000 were Indian tourists, which was a sizable number taking the pandemic into consideration.

Therefore, Turkey is expecting full recovery in tourism for the year 2022 and is aiming to reach the pre-Covid numbers in terms of international visitors including Indians, it added.

The country welcomed 52 million travellers in the pre-pandemic period of 2019, touching USD 34.5 billion in tourism revenue, according to the statement.

With the increasing momentum, Turkey is expecting the tourist footfalls to return to 2019 level by the end of 2022, as international travel demand is rebounding and people are willing to travel and experience new destinations, it added. (PTI)