Turkey's tourism spikes despite slump in Russian visitors

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey has slumped due to the economic crisis in Russia triggered by the fall in oil prices and the weakness of the ruble, figures showed Tuesday.

But this has not affected the overall figures of foreign visitors to Turkey.

In all, some 35.26 million foreigners visited Turkey in the first 11 months of 2014, up over five percent on last year.

The number of Russians visiting Turkey fell by 18.45 percent in November from the same period the year earlier, according to the latest statistics published by the tourism ministry.

Arrivals were recorded from 62,961 Russians in November. In November 2013, 77,210 Russians had visited Turkey, up by 6.11 percent on 2012.

The popularity of Turkey among Russian tourists has long been crucial to the Turkish tourism industry which is one of the mainstays of the wider economy.

However with Russians having to tighten their belts and the ruble bringing far less spending power than before, many are now opting to stay at home for their holidays.

The figures showed that Germans were by far the most frequent visitors to Turkey, with almost 255,000 recorded arriving in November alone.

Arrivals from the United States also fell 24.5 percent but visitors from neighbouring Greece continued to rise, up 4.6 percent to over 61,500 arrivals in November.

Until the current crisis struck, tourism from Russia to Turkey had been ticking up and overall arrivals from Russians in the first eleven months were still up over 5 percent at 4.4 million.

Turkey has proved a hugely popular destinations with Russians due to the year-round sun on its Mediterranean coast, reasonable prices and a visa-free regime.

Turkey brushes off Russia spillover concerns for economy

Meanwhile, Russia announced plans Monday to limit grain exports in a bid to stem a spike in prices at home set off by the collapse of the ruble that threatens to hit the politically-sensitive cost of bread during the holidays.

The government said the customs barrier on exports was to ensure its own food security as the currency crisis bites.

"Now there are two possibilities: either it will be a total restriction or a partial restriction that would exclude...Russia's two main customers, Egypt and Turkey, as well as India and Armenia," Sebastien Poncelet, an analyst with the French consultancy Agritel, told AFP.

Turkey on Thursday brushed off concerns over the possible impact of the Russian economic crisis, saying its economy was strong enough to survive the turbulence in emerging markets.

"The volatility in oil producing countries like Russia can have an impact on developing countries," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, where he unveiled a new macro-economic programme.

But he said the government had predicted any possible impact of such volatility and had taken timely measures.

"Nobody should expect any negative development on the economy ... We have full confidence in the Turkish economy's resources," he said. 

"Our foreign exchange reserves and the instruments we have are inherently solid."