Claim: Erdogan’s struggle for one-man rule causes tourism recession

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Claim: Erdogan’s struggle for one-man rule causes tourism recession

2016-06-16 12:32 BST

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German daily Die Welt claims Turkey’s president is responsible for decline in Turkey’s tourism

Ephesus, ancient city in Izmir, is one of the most visited places in Turkey.

On 31 May 2016, Nando Sommerfeldt and Holger Zschapitz had an article published in German daily Die Welt in which they claimed that Turkey’s tourism sector is in decline due to the "authoritarian zeals" of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.1

According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, the number of tourists who came to Turkey between January and April in 2016 is 5,816,522, 16.52 percent lower compared to the same period in 2015. The decline was 28.07 percent when the month of April was compared exclusively.2

However, the reason behind the regression of Turkey’s tourism statistics is the recent terrorist attacks conducted in different cities in Turkey by militant groups such as DAESH and the PKK, which have conducted four major attacks (one that killed a group of German tourists) within the past six months.

Terrorist attacks are known to affect countries’ tourism sector. For example, after the September 11 attacks carried out against the United States by Al-Qaeda, the tourism sector was adversely affected. According to WTTC estimates, worldwide travel and tourism demand declined 5.1 percent after the September 11 attacks.3 According to the statistics of the Paris tourism committee, the number of tourists coming in Paris decreased 24 percent in the month following the terrorist attacks in November 2015.4

Additionally, the tension between Russia and Turkey, which emerged from Turkey’s downing of a Russian aircraft because of a border violation in November last year, is another reason for the decrease in tourism as Russia halted flights too. The number of tourists who came to Turkey between January and April in 2016 is 67.69 percent lower compared to the same period in 2015.