OREANDA-NEWS  Over the past week, the demand for organized tours to Turkey has decreased by 25% compared to the previous week, according to data Travelata.ru. Russians have shifted to the UAE, Egypt and Thailand. Tour operators confirm the drop in sales of tours to Turkey.

Independent tourists have also become less interested in Turkey, they say in Ostrovok.ru . From February 6 to February 12, Russians booked a third less accommodation in the country than from January 30 to February 5. The demand for air tickets to Turkey, according to Yandex.Travel", also decreased by 25% during the week. A representative of another ticket aggregator noticed a 32% drop in sales per week and 52% year-on-year.

Travelers' interest in traveling to Turkey began to decline after two powerful earthquakes that occurred on February 6. Significant destruction affected the southeastern part of Turkey and northern Syria. In Turkey, more than 35 thousand people were killed, in Syria — more than 8.5 thousand people.

Turkey is one of the most popular tourist destinations among Russians. According to calculations, "Fly.ru", the country provides 13-15% of the average daily volume of tours sold by Russian operators. According to Daria Domostroeva, a representative of Intourist, immediately after the news about the earthquake, the volume of cancellations of applications for tours to Turkey increased by 10%, but later it returned to 2-3%. So far, Russians are not massively abandoning previously purchased tours to Turkey, the marketing director notes Travelata.ru Oleg Kozyrev. He explains that refunds are made with deduction of the actual expenses incurred and customers cannot get the entire amount back.