Tourism professionals in Turkey targeted in vaccination campaign

Turkey has launched a vaccination campaign for tourism professionals to boost a vital industry heavily impacted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program covers the principal ­players in the tourism industry, including employees of accommodation facilities and restaurants, personnel of the companies providing vehicles for tours and transfers, and tourist guides.

Over 1 million tourism industry workers will be inoculated in total as part of the plan.

Turkey began its mass nationwide vaccination program in mid-January with the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine giving priority to the elderly, and recently the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs have been included in the program.

"It will be a major lift for the industry and a significant development regarding Turkey's image and the safe tourism program that we are promoting," Volkan Yorulmaz, a board member of the Professional Hotel Managers Association of Turkey, told Xinhua.

"Tourism is the sector that is in contact with foreigners the most," he said, adding that with the vaccinations, Turkey would have a competitive edge.

From April, the new tourism season is expected to gain momentum, with ­Russian tourists coming to the ­Mediterranean coastal cities, such as ­Antalya, which hosts hundreds of facilities and many ancient archaeological sites.

The pandemic has led to a considerable decline in tourist numbers in 2020 and slashed revenues by about two-thirds. The number of foreigners visiting the country last year fell about 72 percent from the previous year to 12.7 million, according to official data.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Statistical Institute revealed that Turkey's tourism revenues slipped by 65.1 percent year on year to $12.6 billion last year.

Tourism is a very important source of income for Turkey, which has been experiencing economic difficulties.

Irfan Karsli, head of the Istanbul-based Ligarba Travel Agency, told Xinhua that the vaccination of tourism personnel would give Turkey leverage in the sector, which is expected to rebound gradually in 2021.

But he acknowledged that 2021 would also be rough, and demand and revenues will not reach pre-pandemic levels despite collective efforts from both the state and private sector partners.