Turkey is no longer an interesting tourist destination for Saudi Arabia

The spread of the coronavirus has left the tourism sector very much affected worldwide. Confinements and airspace closures during the first months of the pandemic have been compounded by the fear and restrictions of this last stage of the year.

In the case of Turkey, tourism revenues rose to $34 billion in 2019, making this sector an important engine of its economy as well as a growing source of direct employment. An important part of this tourism came from the Gulf, since, for Saudi Arabia, Turkey has been one of its main tourist destinations. But not any more.  

One of the aspects the Saudis cite as a reason for stopping going is the growing insecurity in the country, something that is also shared by the United States, whose embassy warned in October of the risk of terrorist attacks and kidnappings of foreign citizens, particularly in Istanbul. The American embassy recommended avoiding crowds and shopping centres and remaining alert in places frequented by foreigners.

Saudi Arabia, whose trips to Turkey had already been reduced by 28 percent over the past year, a significant drop for which this was once a very frequent destination among Saudis, acted in the same vein. For its part, the United Arab Emirates has also reduced its trips to the country by 16%. Both data have been provided by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

From Riyadh, fraud and robbery suffered by its nationals in Turkey is pointed out as one of the main reasons why Turkey has ceased to be attractive. As an alternative, Azerbaijan, Georgia or Armenia are placed, which reflects that the region is still interesting and that it is Turkey that is suffering from this problem.

Although Russians, Germans, Bulgarians, British and Iranians are the main nationalities visiting Turkey, the Saudis' decision, which is shared by other countries, is another of the problems the country has to face in trying to revitalise its battered economy.