MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s health and consumer rights monitor Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday it carried out over 1,700 surprise inspections among travel agencies nationwide on banned ticket sales to Turkey in the past six month.
"From December 2015 to May 13, 2016, the Rospotrebnadzor administrations conducted over 1,700 unscheduled inspections across the subjects of the Russian Federation, submitted over 160 determinations to open administrative cases, filed 240 reports of administrative infractions," the statement read.
Rospotrebnadzor said it continued to monitor possible ticket sales to Turkey online.
The tourism industry accounts for over 4 percent of Turkey's gross domestic product and employs about 7 percent of the country's working population.
In addition to the recent instability, tourism in Turkey continued declining after Russia banned organized travel of its tourist groups to the republic in the wake of the November 24 downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by Turkey.