‘We expect to host more groups in Turkey’

As Turkey opens up to welcome fully vaccinated Indian travellers, we speak to H.E. Firat Sunel, Ambassador of Turkey to India and discuss tourism ties between both the counties.

TT Bureau

Q1. How do you plan to revive the tourism industry in Turkey post-pandemic? What are your short-term goals?
As you may know 2018 and 2019 were very successful years for Turkish tourism in India. We hosted more than 2.3 lakh Indian tourists in 2019 with an increase of 55% in comparison with 2018. This number was a record for us in India. I believe that with the resumption of direct flights between our countries both the number of Indian tourists visiting to Turkey and Turkish tourists visiting to India will grow significantly in a short while. Our visa departments have been operating in full capacity. And e visa scheme for Indian citizens is still valid. As you know an Indian citizen who has a valid Schengen, UK or US visa can apply for Turkish e visa online and obtain his/her visa within 5-10 minutes. And we believe that together with the resumption of scheduled flights in India, the tourist traffic between our countries can reach similar numbers as we had in 2018 and 2019. Also I would like to notify that fully vaccinated travellers from India will no longer be subjected to mandatory quarantine rule in Turkey This would definitely contribute to reaching our goals in India in the short term.

Q2. Is there any new addition or development in Turkey? What are the areas that you plan to focus on?
I am very pleased to declare that, as of September 4th fully vaccinated travellers from India will no longer be subjected to mandatory 14-day quarantine rule in Turkey. Indians who are vaccinated with 2 dose of WHO or Turkish Government approved vaccines are not required to quarantine when arriving in Turkey.

The vaccines that have been approved by WHO or Turkish Government are covered under this exemption. In addition to WHO approved vaccines, the vaccines approved by Turkish Government are Pzifer Biontech, Sputnik V and Sinovac. For the same, a traveller must be taken the second dose (if Johnson&Johnson one dose is sufficient) at least 14 days prior to the date of travel. For Indian travellers who are vaccinated with Covishield will also be allowed to travel to Turkey. Once, Covaxin get a nod from WHO, travellers vaccinated with the same will also be able to visit Turkey.

Turkey is a popular destination for leisure travel in India. We witnessed huge demand after the lifting of quarantine for 2 doses vaccinated Indian travellers. In addition to FIT movements Turkey has also become a popular country for MICE and Indian weddings. With the help of smooth visa system which we apply big MICE and Wedding Groups, we expect to host more groups in Turkey. In addition to that Turkey has been a favourite location for Indian filmmakers to shoot their movies. We are cooperating with various Bollywood filmmakers for the shooting of upcoming movies in Turkey covering its rich traditions, combined with diverse European elements and natural scenic beauty.

Q3. What are the quarantine measures for travellers arriving from overseas during the pandemic of COVID-19?
Safe Tourism Certification Program has been at the heart of safety protocols of our tourism industry since the mid of 2020. As known, Turkey is one of the first countries in the World to introduce the Safe Tourism Certificate Program for the tourism industry. This certificate covers a broad range of measures including transportation, accommodation, health condition of employees of the facilities and passengers. Granted by the international certification institutions, this system ensures the safety of the visitors, both domestic and international. Thanks to the Safe Tourism Certificate Program the number of international visitors was more than 15 million in 2020 and we also aim to reach 25 million international visitors by the end of 2021.

Q4. How important is India tourism?
Turkey has some classical source markets in terms of tourism. In 2020, Russian Federation, Germany, United Kingdom, Iran, Poland and Ukraine were the main source markets for our tourism industry. However, we attach great importance to the countries called as emerging markets for our tourism industry. India is considered as one of the most potential emerging tourism markets for our country. Hence, we will continue to conduct different marketing activities in India in the years to come and will actively promote our country as a destination in India and strive for increasing the numbers of Indian tourists visiting Turkey. In addition to that I would also like to emphasize that we are also ready to collaborate with our Indian counterparts in order to attract more Turkish tourists to Incredible India. I believe that enhancing mutual touristic flow would definitely contribute to the development of existing good relations between Turkey and India.