Turkey May Fully Restore Tourist Flow With Russia in 2017 - Prime Minister

Turkey may fully restore the tourist flow with Russia next year, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Turkey faced a slump in the number of tourists coming to its resorts in 2016 after the Russian government imposed a ban on charter flights to Turkey and selling tour packages to the country over the downing of a Russian Su-24 aircraft by a Turkish F-16 fighter on November 24, 2015.

"Starting last year, the tourist flow has decreased, let's not talk about obvious reasons. We think we can restore the previous numbers in 2017," Yildirim told reporters following talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow.

In June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the incident over Syria, and Russian government took steps aimed at lifting restrictions on tourist travel to Turkey as well as on charter flights between Russia and Turkey.

Turkey's tourism sector also suffers a considerable decline as the country has been hit by a series of deadly terrorist attacks since last year, including those in its capital Ankara and the largest city of Istanbul.