Is it time to look at China instead of Russia in tourism?

Turkey welcomes the sixth most number of tourists every year.

Turkey, which hosted only 7 million tourists in 1995, according to data provided by Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), reached the figure of 39 million tourists in 2013, obtaining a tourism income of $32 billion. Tourism is not a sector to be shrugged off for a Turkey that is suffering from a current account deficit problem. It is also a remedy for unemployment if we take into consideration that it was the second sector to give job vacancy ads after retailers.

The fact that tourism revenues in the first nine months of 2014 are $2 billion more compared to the same period last year indicates an increasing trend in incomes. However, experts see dark clouds for the year 2015 for the sector.

The reason for the dark clouds is Russia.

Russian tourists, who head for Turkey’s Mediterranean coasts and especially Antalya, went ahead of German tourists for the first time this year, sending 4.1 million tourists to Turkey.

Will Russia keep its place in 2015? It is quite difficult today to immediately say “yes” to this question.
The head of the Mediterranean Association of Tourist Hoteliers (AKTOB), Yusuf Hacısüleyman, conveyed his impressions of the WTM in London where the heart of world tourism beats, ringing alarm bells for the Russian market. According to him, there are significant developments going on in Russia which will closely affect Turkish tourism. The most important of these is the fall in oil prices which is a significant income source for Russia.

Also, the Ukrainian crisis resulting in the sanctions of Western countries has caused a severe devaluation of the ruble against the dollar and the euro. In the event that...