Turkey has eased all entry requirements for visitors and expects to receive the most significant number of Indian tourists ever this year, said Turkiye Tourism Board. According to a statement, Indian visitors entering Turkey previously had to provide either a vaccination certificate or an RT-PCR test report.
It further stated that Indian travellers no longer need to demonstrate confirmation of coronavirus vaccine, proof of recovery from the sickness, or a negative RT-PCR test result.
This year, the government expects to welcome the highest-ever number of Indian tourists, with both Indigo and Turkish Airlines restarting direct international flights to Turkiye.
According to the report, Turkey’s tourist industry, which generated about USD 25 billion in revenue last year, representing a 103 per cent increase since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to establish a new high in 2022.
Last year, Turkiye Tourism Board announced that the country was one of the top destinations for Free Independent Travelers (FIT) and Meeting, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Events (MICE) travellers from across the world with over 30 million foreign visitors in 2021.
Over 50,000 of these were Indian visitors, which was a significant number considering the epidemic. As a result, according to the statement, Turkey expects a full recovery in tourism in 2022, intending to return to pre-Covid levels in terms of international tourists, especially Indians.
According to the statement, the country welcomed 52 million visitors in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, generating USD 34.5 billion in tourist earnings.
Turkey expects visitor footfalls to recover to 2019 levels by the end of 2022, as international travel demand is rising and people are eager to travel and explore new locations.
