Indian tourists ditch Azerbaijan and Turkey. Reason: Operation Sindoor | Report
Indian tourist traffic to Turkey and Azerbaijan has fallen significantly in the weeks and months following Operation Sindoor and the hostilities in May, claim media reports.
The decline followed Azerbaijan and Turkey’s public backing of Pakistan during the military conflict. In May, Azerbaijan echoed Pakistan’s stance on the conflict, while Turkey supported Islamabad’s demand for an international investigation into the Pahalgam attack. Turkey has also supplied weapons to Pakistan in the past.
According to latest data, cited in an Indian Express report, the decline has been steeper for Azerbaijan, which recorded a 56 per cent drop in visitors from India during the May-August period, while Turkey saw a 33.3 per cent fall.
The data from the Azerbaijan Tourism Board showed that Indian visitor numbers had grown 33 per cent year-on-year in January-April, but plummeted nearly 56 per cent in the subsequent four months, the report said.
Popularity reversed
Both countries had been gaining popularity among Indian travellers in recent years, aided by direct flight connections and Istanbul serving as a gateway to destinations beyond Turkey.
Despite geopolitical tensions in West Asia, tourism from India to these destinations had remained steady until May.
Booking cancellations surge
Travel booking portals reported a notable drop in reservations and a rise in cancellations soon after the ceasefire with Islamabad and calls for boycott Turkey and Azerbaijan.
“Bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkey decreasing by 60% (over the last week) while cancellations have surged by 250% during the same period,” a MakeMyTrip spokesperson had told Reuters in May.
EaseMyTrip’s Chief Executive Officer, Rikant Pittie, said travellers were redirecting plans to destinations such as Georgia, Serbia, Greece, Thailand, and Vietnam. “EaseMyTrip had seen a 22% rise in cancellations for Turkey and 30% for Azerbaijan due to recent geopolitical tensions,” he added.
Meanwhile, visa processing platform Atlys had also reported a 42 per cent decline in visa applications to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
