"Turkey’s previously booming tourism sector was gravely hit in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks and domestic political turmoil," the release stated. "The dwindling number of visitors has hurt connecting sectors, chopping off about one percentage point of GDP from the country’s growth in 2016."
In 2015, more than half of Turkey's tourists came from European nations, while another 10 percent came from Russia and 8 percent from Iran or Iraq, the IMF noted.
However, due to political uncertainty and more than 400 terror attacks in 2015 alone, tourism from Europe fell more than 30 percent. Additionally, the number of Russian tourists declined as a result of sanctions and travel restrictions.
Prior to 2016, the tourism industry accounted for 3.7 percent of Turkey's GDP, created 600,000 jobs and an additional one million jobs in related sectors.
According to the IMF, a 10 percent drop in foreign tourists translates into a 0.3-0.5 decline in GDP. Turkey's recovery is likely to be slow as additional violence will have long-term effects on tourism.
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