Turkey no longer welcomes American tourists

United States of America and Turkey. Flags

No visa on arrival either. According to Turkish Airlines regional marketing manager Jamal Hamza, no visas on arrivals for American Citizens are issued at Istanbul or any other Turkish Airports. No visas for US passport holders are issued at any of the Turkish consulates in the United States, or the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC.

Terror attacks in Istanbul had been a big problem for Turkey to attract foreign tourists to the city on the Bosphorus.

Turkish tourism officials together with Turkish Airlines had been trying desperately to convince foreign tourists, including Americans to travel to their country.

Now Turkish quasi-dictator president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  reacted to the US bullish president Donald Trump and both countries stopping the issuance of non-immigrant tourist and business visas to each other’s citizens.

eTN talked to a number of tourism stakeholders in Istanbul. The travel industry in Istanbul is shocked and speechless about what they called political nonsense. It comes at a time when Turkey tourism has been under attack by terror and now by their own government.

This move is surprising since Turkey and the USA are fellow NATO members.
It appears Tourism to Turkey may be on the shorter end of the stick, but the stubbornness of political leaders has no winners.