MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Turkish government expects that Russian tourists will resume traveling to the country, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday.
"We believe Russian tourists will start coming back to Turkey" Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Daily Sabah newspaper.
Relations between Ankara and Moscow deteriorated after a Turkish fighter downed a Russian aircraft over Syria on November 24. Following the incident, Russia imposed a set of restrictive measure against Turkey, which included a ban on the sale of tour packages to the country.
According to data from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ankara lost some 20 percent of Russian tourists and almost 10 percent of holidaymakers from Europe in 2015 compared to 2014.
According to tourism and culture department of southwestern Turkish province of Antalya, the number of Russian tourists visiting the Turkish resort dropped 5.3 times between January 1 and 31, compared to the same period in 2015.
