There is no doubt that many holidaymakers would like to know the answer to the question “when can I book my holiday to Bodrum, Antalya or Marmaris”.
Following the coronavirus outbreak and its initial impact in Turkey, Turkish government has banned flights from the UK since mid-March and the Foreign Office is currently reported to be advising against all travels to this country.
After the crisis started in Turkey as well, the administration adopted a more relaxed fighting strategy against the virus as compared to some countries such as Germany in Europe and South Korea in Far East. However, the administration had to introduce lock-outs of 48 hours at weekends to slow down the spread of the virus, in some major cities.
And despite this challenge of having to fight against the virus, the government still seems to quite optimistic that Turkey may be open for business by the end of next month.
Thus, holidaymakers might hopefully start coming to Turkey in early June as also expressed by the Minister of Tourism. Nuri ERSOY, the Minister of Tourism said, "Hopefully we will see that the tourism activities will start again during the Ramadan Feast”. Ramadan Feast, also known as Eid ul-Fitr (in Arabic), will be celebrated at the end of May.
Mr. Ersoy also stated that they aimed to allow domestic tourism before gradually opening up to the rest of the world. The Minister noted that he expected the flight schedules to return to normal by the end of June, and that the air travel would be likely to begin with Asia, then Russia, the Balkans first to be followed by Europe.
