Turkish tourism not to be affected by the Israel-Turkey tension

Turkey's tourism targets will not be affected despite a decrease in the number of tourists coming from Israel to Turkey, Governor of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies said.

Basaran Ulusoy, the governor of the association of Turkish Travel Agencies, or TURSAB stated that a fall is expected in numbers of Israeli tourist unless relations between two countries improve but it won''t affect Turkey's tourism goals adversely though as Israeli tourists only constitute 0.47 percent of Turkey's tourism market.

"The number of Israeli tourists rose to 71,400 with a 65 percent increase in the first five months of 2014, compared to the same period of 2013," Ulusoy said. "However, there will be a severe decrease in the Israeli market after July when the crisis began due to the call of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to go to Turkey."

Israeli tourist numbers soared by 96 percent in 2013 compared to 2011 - an increase from 79,000 to 164,000.

The number of Turkish citizens visiting Israel rose massively with a 292 percent increase from 5,099 in 2012 to 20,016 in 2013, according to Turkish Statistical Institute.