Russians Angry Over Spike In Travel Plans To Turkey

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The apparent boom in demand among Russians for vacations in Turkey angered some still not pleased with the nation

By Vladi Vovcuk

Tourists in Istanbul

REUTERS
Russians are taking to social media to rage against their fellow countrymen who are making plans to travel to Turkey. The reactions appear to indicate that many Russians still haven’t forgiven their neighbors to the south for downing a Russian jet near the Syria-Turkey border in November.

Over the weekend, a major Russian news site reported that within 24 hours after a ban on selling tour packages to Turkey was lifted, the country became the most popular destination on Yandex Travel, a site used for bookings. According to the report, in the three days since the ban was lifted, interest in local Russian sites—packages to Crimea, Sochi, and other popular Russian resorts—declined by more than 65 percent. Searches for tour packages in Turkey were also three times higher than for all the Russian popular resorts combined.

A similar trend was reported on the side of supply, as the number of tour operators offering deals to Turkey spiked from 200 to 500 in the same period of time, according to the Russian news site RBC, citing data from Yandex Travel.

Vocativ found that the number of posts on the popular social media platform Vkontakte that mentioned “Turkey” and “hotel” in the same posts was approximately 70 percent higher on July 1 than on June 16 – the day when the combination of the two words was used most throughout the month of June. Often, the two words appear in ads on the site for hotel packages in Turkey.

But some Russians aren’t pleased with the growing interest. Following reports about offers for packages, and their subsequent demand and growing interest, social media users bashed fellow Russians who are willing to travel to Turkey. Much of their anger is rooted in an incident in November, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Turkey-Syria border. Some, however, also targeted fellow Russians for deciding to visit the country after a deadly terror attack hit Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport last week.

On Friday, Russia lifted the restrictions on the sales of tour packages to Turkey after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for downing the jet. The plane incident also resulted in massive online protests in Russian calling to boycott tourism in Turkey.

Translation: “And this is all the patriotism: three days after the lifting of the ban, Turkey turned into the most popular destination among Russians” -Caption, top picture: “They shut down our jet, bastards, enemy!!!” -Caption, bottom picture: “but at least it is all exclusive”

Translation: “The demand for tours in Turkey spiked by 10 times” Caption: “Tours in Turkey! terror attacks, explosions, ISIS and Kurds – all inclusive!” 

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