According to local Turkish tourist media, the removal of Russian banks from the SWIFT system has led to the fact that Russian tour operators are unable to make payments for previously booked rooms, especially the issue of paying for the next arrivals. Antalya and Fethiye were particularly affected. As a result of the opposition of the world community to Russia – as predicted by Turkish experts – arrives in Turkey. The situation is similar with Egypt.
“Not only have some Russian tourists canceled their early bookings, but hoteliers are now unable to pay for bookings that have not yet been canceled,” the Turkish newspaper said. They recalled that Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, had announced that some Russian banks had been excluded from the SWIFT system – and said that “comprehensive sanctions isolating Russia from the international financial system” would continue.
The reaction was immediate: Vice President of the Turkish Hotel Federation (TÜROFED) Bulent Bulbuloglu commented: “After the sanctions against Russia, we received information from companies in Antalya and Fethiye that credit cards of Russian tourists do not work. Therefore, no companies can receive payments. Moreover, a much more important problem is that after the sanctions against Russian banks, Turkish hotels have not been able to obtain receivables from tour operators for early bookings. Therefore, checks with March payments were either withheld or carried over to May and June. We are very concerned. There is chaos on the part of tourism,” he said.
He was also supported by the President of the Aegean Association of Tourist Enterprises and Accommodation (ETIK) Mehmet Ischler – he reminded that Turkish hotels are already in debt, not only this year, but also during the “good times”. “Sanctions against Russia have already had a negative impact on Turkish specialists in the field of tourism, and will cost us even more. Hoteliers “hung” payments from tour operators. These are the remaining payments, both this year and last year. How these payments will be made after the sanctions is a big question. Do we really have to carry payments in bags – in the 21st century. It should be SWIFT – and we will have to find a solution,” he added.
The President of the Association of Travel Agencies of Turkey (TÜRSAB) Firuz Baglikaya stressed that these consequences were expected after the imposition of sanctions against Russian banks. “They stopped the Russian banking system – as a result, our hotels were unable to collect their receivables from tour operators, as remittances could not be made after the sanctions. It is also not possible to make a prepayment. One can only hope that this is temporary,” he added.