The Ministry of Tourism of this country plans to take measures against a “sophisticated attack” on tourism in Turkey. Many tourists are already refusing tours to Turkey because of this, and the reason for this is purposeful black PR of the country, which has no basis, the ministry said. We are talking about tourists from the Middle East, who were bombarded with “targeted propaganda” via the Internet and social networks to dissuade them from vacationing in Turkey.
This was reported by Turizm Guncel newspaper, referring to the statement of Heysem Turizm Board Chairman Ayman Maslamani – and he directly stated that there are big losses in the Middle East market due to anti-Turkey propaganda on websites and social networks. We are talking, for example, about such markets as Qatar and Kuwait, he said.
“There has been a loss of 40-50% of tourists in this market, and these are real reservations that have been canceled. Most Arab customers have changed their destination. This happened because of black PR and relevant messages on social networks about Turkey,” he said.
According to him, posts on the topic: “Turks do not want Arabs, they treat Arabs badly, Turkey is bad, there is racism” began to appear en masse in the mass media and social networks of the respective countries. “This is also done by some sites that broadcast in Arabic in Turkey. They are run by Arabs. These posts harm Turkey’s reputation and economy,” he said.
The Turkish expert also added that he had indeed encountered Arab tourists who were influenced by black PR. “Arabs are afraid to come. They ask: “What if they attack us, beat us?”
He further called on the Ministry of Tourism to assist in the fight. Firstly, according to him, a counter-broadcast is needed to show that this propaganda is not true. Secondly, since this propaganda is carried out by people of Arab origin living in Turkey, measures of struggle can be conducted in this direction as well.
“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism should take measures against these persons. We have suffered a great loss in this market, we have lost a very large number of overnight stays in Istanbul, the Black Sea, and Antalya.” He will remind that for 7-8 years, many tourists from the Middle East came to Istanbul, while the number of Europeans fell sharply.
“Propaganda dealt a blow to Arab tourism. Our state and ministry should take serious action against her. It is necessary to explain well that there is no such thing and that Turkish citizens do not behave in a similar way towards Arab tourists,” he said.
However, a third direction of struggle is also planned – against those dishonest businessmen on whom “black PR” can rely on machinations. “Restaurants and taxi drivers fool tourists – and this, unfortunately, is our reality. We cannot reject it. It is necessary to develop an action plan against such fraudsters. There should be a total fight against illegal structures that continue to exist in the city,” the Turkish expert concluded.