Lifted Charter Flight Ban Leads to 60,000 Russian Tourists Arriving to Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that after the charter flight ban from Russia was lifted, 60,000 Russian tourists have arrived to Turkey.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — A total of 60,000 Russian tourists visited Turkey since a ban on charter flights was lifted earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

Erdogan thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the G20 summit on September 3 for restarting charter flights between the countries. The Russian government decree signed into law on August 28 went into force six days later.

"After the charter flight ban from Russia was lifted, 60,000 Russian tourists have arrived here. We have high hopes for a further increase in the tourist flow from Russia," Erdogan said at a meeting with regional administration leaders in Ankara.

Turkey faced a slump in the number of tourists coming to its resort destinations in 2016 after the Russian government imposed ban on charter flights to Turkey and selling tour packages to the country over the downing of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish jet last fall.

Turkey and Russia ended seven months of tension in late June when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the downing of the Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.

Turkey's tourism sector also suffered a considerable decline fall in the number of European tourists after the country was hit by a series of deadly terrorist attacks, including in its capital Ankara and the largest city of Istanbul.