Five million Russian holidaymakers are expected to visit Turkey's most famous holiday destinations on the the Mediterranean and Agean seas this year, according to Anex Tour, Russia's largest tour operator.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the World Tourism Forum in Moscow, the head of Anex Tour said that, "Of the 5.5 million tourists expected in these holiday spots in Turkey, 5 million will be Russian," before adding that, "A million of these holidaymakers will book their vacations with Anex Tour, and that shows that Russian tourists have missed Turkey," after they were forced to look to other travel destinations in 2015.
Russian holidaymakers are expected to take advantage of the sizeable discount packages offered by Turkish hotels, which is one factor credited for the increase in early booking numbers.
Dubbed the "Davos of Tourism", the World Tourism Forum will be held in Istanbul between 16-18 February with over 7,000 expected guests in attendance.
With the aim to develop global tourism, World Tourism Forum brings together industry leaders from around the world.
Held last year in Moscow, the event will feature the 400 best-performing Russian travel agents, in addition to 25 speakers from 10 countries, along with 130 press members and industry players.
A Sabah newspaper report cited the head of the Wolrd Tourism Forum, Bulut Bağcı, as saying that early bookings from Russia are expected to continue, "We brought together here the 400 agents that carry the most number of tourists from Russia with Turkish tourism professionals, and we laid the groundwork in order to better explain Turkey to them," Bağcı continued, "aiming, on the one hand, to shatter the negative perception of Turkey on the global stage, and on the other, pave the way towards increasing the number of inbound Russian tourists to the country."
General Manager of Turkey's Denizbank, Hakan Ateş, recalled that the bank is a subsidiary of Sberbank, one of the largest banks in Russia, following its acquisition in 2012.
In addition, he announced that following the decision to conduct monetary transactions between the two countries in local currencies, "We dedicated projects to our Russian guests that include setting up a call center that provides services in Russian. Additionally, Russian tourists in Turkey will be able to withdraw cash in Rubles directly from ATMs."
