"In the second quarter which is April, May and June months of 2016 tourism income decreased by 35.6% and declined to $4 billion 981 million 318 thousand. While 77.1% of this income (excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures) was obtained from foreign visitors, 22.9% was obtained from citizens resident abroad," the press release said.
The press release added that the number of departing visitors had also decreased in the above mentioned quarter by 30.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.
Turkey faced a slump in the number of tourists coming to its resort destinations in 2016 after the Russian government advised travel agencies not to sell package tours 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 Russian Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.
On June 30, Putin signed a decree instructing the government to take steps aimed at lifting restrictions on tourist travel to Turkey as well as on charter flights between Russia and Turkey.
