Ankara initiates phone diplomacy for tourism

Turkey is starting a phone diplomacy with about 70 countries to relaunch air traffic in a bid to bring tourists to the country starting from June, the culture and tourism ministers said on May 10.

A letter of intent prepared by the Turkish tourism and foreign ministries will be sent to their counterparts in tourist source countries as of May 11, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told broadcaster CNN Türk.

"The letter includes the details of our certification process. We have also written the details of Turkey's health infrastructure, which prioritizes us as a success story, especially in the tourism provinces and districts," he said, adding that tables with the figures of public and private hospital bed capacities, intensive care units, ventilators, ambulances and ambulance aircraft are attached to the letter.

"Afterwards, the foreign minister and I will start a phone diplomacy with our counterparts," he said, pointing out that 70 countries have been targeted initially.

They will focus on procedures to start flights between Turkey and those countries during the phone conversations, Ersoy said.

Germany can be among the countries sending tourists in the first phase of reopening in the Turkish resorts, he said, also referring to some Asian and Central European countries.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Health Ministry is planning to establish COVID-19 test centers at tourist destination airports Istanbul, Sabiha Gökçen, İzmir, Dalaman, Bodrum, Antalya and Gazipaşa, as well as at the border gates, said Ersoy.

All the people will be tested on arrival to the country starting from June, he added.

The Turkish government has started a process to certify the measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus at the airports,...