Turkey hopes full lockdown will be good for tourism

By Elif Ferhan Yesilyurt

ISTANBUL (AA) - The tourism sector in Turkey is hopeful that current coronavirus pandemic measures will reduce the number of infections and pave the way for tourists to visit.

"We hope to enter the summer season as a country with a reduced number of cases and this will positively affect the tourism movements during the summer season," said Firuz Baglikaya, the head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB). "All our wish is not to lose more lives by reaching effective results as soon as possible in our fight against the virus," he added.

Turkey will enforce a full lockdown from Thursday until May 17 to stem the spread of the virus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Monday.

Meanwhile, Russia’s tourism sector is keenly awaiting the resumption of charter flights to and from Turkey on June 1.

Moscow announced a temporary suspension of regular and charter flights with Turkey on April 15 because of COVID-19 concerns.

*Writing by Aysu Bicer in Ankara