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Sanctions weigh on tourism: Cyprus and Bulgaria are missing the Russians

Sanctions weigh on tourism
Cyprus and Bulgaria lack the Russians

They have been coming for years and bring in a lot of money: Russian tourists are welcome guests in Cyprus and Bulgaria. But now the customer base is falling away because of the sanctions against Russia. Turkey could be a laughing third party – demand is increasing in at least one region.

In Cyprus and Bulgaria, the tourism industry is worried about the 2022 summer season. The sanctions against Russia mean that Russian guests are likely to stay away almost entirely. After the slump in sales during the pandemic, many companies fear that they will not be able to make ends meet for much longer. Turkey could benefit: Ankara speaks out against sanctions and keeps the airspace open to Russian planes.

Shortly after the war began, the Russian ambassador in Nicosia, Stanislav Ossadchi, bluntly told a Cypriot television station: “Where will Cyprus get Russian tourists from? They won’t come!” Nicosia had closed its airspace to Russian planes. Cyprus shot itself in the knee, said Ossadtschi. The Russians would instead travel to Turkey and spend their money there.

Russians previously made up around 25 percent of holidaymakers on the island. “If we assume that we will lose all these guests, it will cost us up to two percent of our gross domestic product,” warns Finance Minister Konstantinos Petridis.

Other tourists also shy away from Bulgaria

A bad summer season is also emerging on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. War refugees from the Ukraine are now housed in the hotels there. In addition to the Russian and Ukrainian tourists, the 350,000 Russian owners of holiday homes could also be absent – there are currently no flight connections between the countries. There have also been hardly any bookings from Western and Central Europe since the beginning of the war. The country is probably too close to the theater of war.

It remains to be seen whether Russian vacationers will head to Turkey this year instead. The industry fears a slump there too. “If the war goes on and there is no new development, only 30 percent of the Russians will come,” the head of the Etik tourism association, Mehmet Isler, told Turkish media. There are already cancellations. According to the statistics agency, 4.6 million tourists came from Russia in 2021, followed by around 3 million Germans and 2 million Ukrainians.

Real estate agents in Antalya, on the other hand, are reporting significantly more inquiries from Russian and Ukrainian customers. Özkan Tekce of Antalya Homes real estate agency said demand was two and a half times higher than usual at this time of year.

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