Thursday 19 / September / 2024
Istanbul: Despite imposing a period of emergency from July 21 due to the failed military coup, Turkey has normalised and is awaiting more travellers.
All tourist sites are operating as per their usual schedule and tourists, especially from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), are making their way to Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city with a population of over 18 million people, with an additional refugee population.
Siham, a tourist from Morocco, who is travelling on a cruise boat, told the Times of Oman that although she was a little scared before arriving in Turkey, she is quite happy to be here and finds the country safe and exciting.
“My husband and I had booked our holiday to Turkey about a month in advance and when the coup happened, it was too late for us to cancel, however, we are glad we came because the country is beautiful and we are having a really nice time here. We arrived here three days ago,” she added.
Another Arab tourist Ben Mustapha said he had postponed his travel after hearing of the coup. “I was supposed to be in the country on July 15, the day of the failed coup, however when I heard of the situation, I decided to postpone my travel to Turkey just to be safe. However, I have been here with my family for the last three days and find the place safe and extremely beautiful.”
According to Ekrem, a tour guide with one of the biggest tour companies in Istanbul, who has been working in the city for the last six years, said business has dipped by about 40 to 50 per cent and European travellers have almost stopped coming, but Arabs continue to come in good numbers despite the current situation.
“Last year, I worked almost every day for 100 days together around this time, however, this year, we don’t have as many tourists and European travel has almost come to a halt, so I don’t have work every day. It’s true that tourism has been affected as people fear the situation here and I don’t blame them, but they need to realise that things got under control very quickly and things are perfectly normal now. Everybody is out doing whatever they have to and if you come here you will know how amazing it is here.”
Biggest source
Tourism is Turkey’s biggest source of income and the country is now trying to make sure that they send out the right message to potential travellers coming to the country. Another tour guide Servet Kelahmetoglu, who caters to Arabian travellers and has worked in the industry for six years, said travellers have decreased a little this year when compared with the last year.
“Our peak season started from May to October and last year, I was working constantly during these months, however this year, the number of travellers have decreased by about 20 per cent or more and I worked only six times last month.”
Like Ekrem, Kelahmetoglu was also at home when the coup happened and followed the news from home on Facebook and also connected with friends for updates on the situation.
“I was at home for two days when the coup took place, but kept following the situation, some people vented in support of the government and things normalised soon after that.”
On Sunday, more than a million people attended a pro-democracy rally in Istanbul following the failed coup attempt last month. The rally saw President Recep Tayyip Ergodan and opposition leaders together for the first time in several years.
On July 15 last month, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces had declared a coup, however with the unity of the people, who took to the streets on that day, the coup failed and about 6,000 army personnel were detained by the government. More than 250 civilians died and many were left injured.
