Turkey eliminates visas for Spain and five other European countries

Entering Turkey for nationals of Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom will be much easier than before. Turkey will allow the citizens of these countries to enter without requesting a visa as from 2nd March if their purpose is tourism, said the Turkish Foreign Ministry. “Turkey has decided to exempt citizens of EU and Schengen member countries Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, as well as the UK, from visa requirements for tourist trips”, reports Foreign Affairs on its website. 

This measure maintains the current regime that allows tourists to stay in the Ottoman country for a total of nine days, within a period of 180. At present, it is possible to acquire a multiple entry visa in a few minutes, through a simple online procedure and the payment of 32 euros.

The elimination of this formality and its cost is intended to increase tourism to Turkey from these countries, as well as to intensify commercial and cultural relations, explains the ministerial statement.

Turkey received 45 million tourists during 2019, which puts it in fourth place in Europe, with almost 20 million visitors from Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom and Iran. After receiving the highest annual number of tourists last year, Turkey was the sixth most visited country in the world, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. With less than 100,000 tourists a year in recent years, Spain ranks relatively low in Turkish statistics.