Turkish hotels enter summer season with 90 pct occupancy rate

Most hotels in the country's highly touristic south already have a 90 percent occupancy rate for the entire summer season. Experts noted that the country has started to reap the fruits of visa-elimination agreements it signed with a number of nations, including Russia. Last year, Russia ranked second, after Germany, among the countries sending the highest number of tourists to Turkey, with 3 million. This year the common expectation is that Turkey will receive at least 4 million tourists from Russia since the nationals of that country are no longer required to first obtain a visa to enter Turkey. This comes at a time when Turkey's North African competitors for those Russian tourists are still being shaken by popular revolts or are simply trying to recover from the effects of unrest.