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Turkish resorts opening not to affect Russian domestic tourism — official

A Federal Tourism Agency official says the Russian tourism is highly competitive

© EPA/DANIEL BOCKWOLDT

BEIJING, July 25. /TASS/. The resumption of cooperation with Turkey in the sphere of tourism will have no negative impact on Russia’s domestic tourism, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm) Oleg Safonov told reporters on Monday.

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According to him, no excess demand for tours to Turkey has been observed. "In the previous years, a very large number of tourists travelled to the country, but, unfortunately, we know that Turkey has been hit by a very large number of terrorist acts. There were 256 terror acts in the country last year. This year, a great number of acts of terrorism have occurred in Turkey and there has also been a military coup attempt there, martial law was introduced in the country", he said.

According to Safronov, despite the restoration of air service with Turkey, the charter flights are out of the question so far, which increases the cost of travel to that destination. In addition, the Federal Tourism Agency head said that a significant part of tourists have already formed their plans for this season, bought tours or have had holidays.

"Indeed, the (Turkish) destination is very popular. It is very important for us, as it introduces serious competition to the Russian tourism market, which positively affects both the prices inside the country and the prices set by our colleagues, friends and partners abroad", the head of the Federal Tourism Agency said.

He said he did not think that the opening of Turkish resorts will make Russia’s domestic tourism less popular. "We are not afraid of this (the opening of the Turkish market). On the contrary, we believe that the tourism market is highly competitive and it positively affects our tourists", Safonov said.

"We must do everything to create high-quality infrastructure and tourist product inside the country, do this within the framework of normal competition with various, including foreign destinations", he said.

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