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No Russian Package Tour Tourists Are Left in Turkey

Russia's tour operators stopped selling package tours to Turkey soon after the plane was downed. Torben7400 / Pixabay

As of Sunday, there are no Russian tourists on package tours at Turkish resorts, the head of the Russian Tour Operators Association Dmitry Gorin told the RIA Novosti news agency on Monday.

All remaining Russian tourists returned to Russia from Turkey on Dec. 5 and 6, he said, the agency reported.

“As far as we know, 300 tourists ended their vacations in Turkey on those dates and returned to Russia as planned. There are no more package tour tourists in Turkey,” Gorin said.

After a Russian Su-24 jet was downed by Turkish forces near the Turkish-Syrian border on Nov. 24, Russia's Foreign Ministry recommended that Russians stop traveling to the country for safety reasons.

Rostourism, Russia's travel industry watchdog, reported at the time that there were an estimated 10,000 Russian tourists in Turkey.

Russia's tour operators stopped selling package tours to Turkey soon after the plane was downed.

Earlier in November, Russia banned flights to Egypt due to the crash of an Airbus A321 over the Sinai peninsula, which killed 224 people.

Tours to Egypt and Turkey accounted for 38 percent of all foreign package sales this year, according to Rostourism data, Kommersant.

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