Tourism to Turkey falls this year

Turkish government has incentives to tackle the losses in tourism, says minister. The number of tourists coming to Turkey has dropped in 2015, said Culture and Tourism Minister Yalcin Topcu on Thursday.

“There was a 3.8 per centdecrease in foreign visitors during the first seven months of this yearcompared with the same period of the previous year,” the minister told Anadolu Agency.

Topcu said the number of tourists arriving in the first seven months of the year was 27,375.256, and tourism income was $12.6 billion.

“These losses are not irreversible. The government has some incentives and improvements to help pare these [losses],” said Topcu. The minister did not provide further details.

According to the Tourism Ministry, foreign arrivals were down in June. The ministry’s report said that the number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in June 2015 was 4,123,109, a 4.89 percent decrease from the same month in the previous year.