Turkey's drive to attract Iranian tourists hits political snags
Scrambling to compensate for lost markets, Turkey’s tourism sector aims to attract 2 million tourists from Iran this year, but Ankara’s erratic foreign policy could throw this target into jeopardy.
On the night of July 15, 2016, while a coup attempt was unfolding in Turkey, two capitals — Moscow and Tehran — stayed on alert. Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hassan Rouhani of Iran were the first to call their Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to express support for the elected government in Ankara.
Tehran’s support compounded Turkish hopes of expanding economic ties, which had been on the rise since Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and the ensuing lifting of sanctions. Turkish entrepreneurs felt excited over the prospect of new opportunities in Iran amid expectations of a multibillion-dollar investment and development drive in the neighboring country.
Optimism was high also in Turkey’s tourism sector. In 2010, 1.9 million Iranian tourists had visited Turkey, and now, with Iran’s international isolation easing, the prospect of Iranians growing more prosperous boosted hopes that the number of Iranian tourists would shoot up as well.
Turkey’s review of its Syria policy, which brought it closer to Russia and Iran, provided an additional ground for better bilateral ties.
