Turkey’s tourism sector has incurred huge losses during Q1 2021, in light of the remarkable decline in foreign tourist arrivals and revenues, data showed on Friday.
Turkey’s tourism revenues fell 40.2 percent and foreign visitor arrivals dropped 53.9 percent during the period between January and March, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.
In the first quarter, revenues dropped to $2.45 billion, TurkStat noted.
In 2020, tourism revenues fell by 65 percent to $12.059 billion, which highlights the impact of the coronavirus-driven travel restrictions on the sector.
Meanwhile, the number of Turkish people who travelled abroad during the past tourism season also dropped during Q1 2021 by 84 percent.
The measures aimed at containing the pandemic in Turkey proved to have negative implications on tourism, which is crucial to foreign currency flows.
According to data published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), tourism directly accounted…
