(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Turkey's tourism revenues jumped by nearly a fifth to $26bn in 2017, boosted by a five-fold surge in the number of Russian tourists, data showed yesterday, as improving diplomatic ties with Moscow helped the industry.
Tourism revenues are a major source of financing for Turkey's current account deficit, which ratings agencies have described as 'large and persistent.
A 2016 diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Russia — after Turkey shot down a Russian plane over Syria — hit the tourism industry, and the economy, hard, costing an estimated $8bn in lost revenue.
'There is a 70% increase in the number of bookings from foreign travel agencies for this year. We expect a record in numbers in 2018, Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
Tourism revenues surged 18.9% to $26.28bn last year, rebounding from a sharp fall a year earlier, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed.
The number of Russian visitors rose more than five-fold to 4.72mn people, it showed.
Overall, the number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey rose by 27.84% in 2017 to 32.41mn, the data showed.
After Russia, the biggest number of tourists came from Germany and Iran.
In December alone, foreign arrivals to Turkey jumped 30.84%.
Separately, Turkey's central bank on Tuesday lifted its 2018 inflation forecast to 7.9% from 7% previously, and said it would stick to tight monetary policy until there was a 'convincing improvement in price pressures.
Governor Murat Cetinkaya also said his main goal this year was to bring inflation down into single digits amid repeated calls from President Tayyip Erdogan for lower rates.
Erdogan, who has described himself as an 'enemy of interest rates, has repeatedly called for lower rates to fuel bank lending and boost the economy.
'Given a tight policy stance that focuses on bringing inflation down, inflation is expected to converge gradually to the 5% target (and) reach 7.9% at the end of 2018, Cetinkaya said, presenting the bank's quarterly inflation report.
'The tight stance in monetary policy will be maintained decisively until the inflation outlook displays a significant improvement, independent of base effects and temporary factors, and becomes consistent with the targets, he said.
Cetinkaya also said that the forecast mid-point for 2019 year-end inflation was set at 6.5%.
Turkey's annual inflation stood at 11.92% at the end of 2017, far above the bank's official target of 5%.
At its most recent policy-setting meeting, the bank this month left its top rate steady at 12.75%, in line with expectations.
Investors have been sceptical about the bank's ability to bring down inflation, given that it faces the challenging task of balancing volatile prices.
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