Turkey hopes to attract up to 4 Million Russian tourists this year

Turkey hopes to receive up to four million Russian tourists, the Anatolian Agency reported on Sunday citing a spokesman for the Turkish ministry of culture and tourism. "In average, about three million tourists from Russia visit Turkey a year. We expect the figure to near four million this year. The tourist flow growth is expected to exceed 20 percent. Apart from tourism, the abolition of visas will have a positive effect on other spheres," the spokesman said. Statistics show, he noted, that even in low season, i.e. from January to March 2011, the number of Russian tourists went up by 40 percent as compared with the same period last year. The number of hotel reservations in summer have increased by 20 percent as of now. "Citizens of the bulk of world countries, especially in the European Union, travel freely, since there are no borders and visas. And there are no problems because of that. I don’t think we "Russia and Turkey" will have any big problems," he added. According to the spokesman, the tourist flow will inevitably increase once visa restriction are lifted. A relevant Russian-Turkish agreement came into force on April 16, 2011. Under the agreement, no visas will be needed for holders of ordinary foreign passports to stay on Russia’s or Turkey’s territory for 30 days.