The Turkish Tourism industry is suffering greatly due to dictatorial behavior by outspoken Turkish President Erdogan. The imprisonment of journalists, including a well-respected reporter of “Die Welt”, a national German news paper, makes it a challenge for the international press to report from Turkey without being labeled a terrorist.
Germany, a country that has been welcoming to Turkish immigrants for more than 50 years and hosts one of the largest Turkish population of any country outside Turkey has been the target of insults by the Turkish President. Labeling Germans in Turkey as terror suspects prompted the German government to issue strong travel advisories to their citizens traveling to this fellow NATO country.
Labeling Germans in Turkey as terror suspects prompted the German government to issue strong travel advisories to their citizens wanting to travel to this fellow NATO country.
For many years German tourists have been a major source of income and job security for the Turkish Travel and Tourism Industry.
The German government was accused of issuing politically motivated travel advisories. Today President Erdogan complained about not being allowed to organize political events in Germany or speak at political rallies and told the German Federal Government:
“You don’t allow ministers from Turkey to speak in your country, but your agents are mingling in our resorts and split my country.”
This statement could be interpreted as a direct threat against German tourists in Turkey prompting a possible upgrade to the current travel advisories .
In case the German government upgrades a travel advisory to a travel warning, tour operators and airlines have to allow free cancellations for already booked travel packages for Germans to Turkey.
Turkish Airlines PR managers are trying hard to maintain traffic from and to Germany and beyond on their airline.