Can Bieber fever rescue Turkey's tourism trade?
Turkey's tourism business has checked out without paying its tab, and officials are considering enlisting US celebrities like Justin Bieber to help counteract the effects of terrorist attacks and Russian sanctions.
Turkey's tourism industry is now feeling the dire consequences of downing a Russian jet in November, along with the repercussions of terrorist attacks.
Beginning Jan. 1, Russia banned all package tours to Turkey. The economy of Antalya, the "tourism capital" of Turkey that used to host about 4 million Russian tourists annually, is now on the verge of collapse.
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) recently released 2015 tourism statistics showing the country was already suffering before the Russian sanctions were imposed: Tourism revenues sank 8.3% in 2015 to $31.5 billion, from $34.3 billion in 2014. The slump reflects a sharp drop in the number of Russian, German, British, Dutch and Austrian tourists in the second half of 2015, which TUIK blames on Islamic State (IS) massacres in Suruc, Diyarbakir and Ankara and escalating terror in the southeast.
After an IS suicide bombing killed 10 German tourists Jan. 12 in Istanbul, Turkey experienced mass tourism reservation cancellations from Germany — one of its top sources of tourist dollars — along with cancellations from other European countries.
