Turkey, Azerbaijan Bookings Fall, Cancellations Rise Over Support To Pakistan
The two countries had openly supported Pakistan after India launched air strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Mumbai: Indians are boycotting travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan over their support to Pakistan during India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ with leading online travel agencies MakeMyTrip and EaseMyTrip reporting mass cancellations and a fall in bookings to these two countries.
MakeMyTrip has reported a 60 per cent fall in bookings for the two destinations over the past week, alongside a staggering 250 per cent rise in cancellations. Similarly, EaseMyTrip has seen 22 percent trip cancellations to Turkey and more than 30 percent cancellation to Azerbaijan.
Travel aggregator Ixigo also suspended flight and hotel bookings for Turkey, Azerbaijan, and China, saying in a social media post, “In solidarity with our nation, ixigo is suspending flight and hotel bookings for Turkey, Azerbaijan and China. Because when it comes to Bharat, we don’t think twice.”
In addition, Indian travel brand Go Homestays has ended its partnership with Turkish Airlines, accusing the airline of supporting a nation unfriendly towards India. They stated that they would no longer offer Turkish Airlines flights in their international packages.
The two countries had openly supported Pakistan after India launched air strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“Indian travelers have expressed strong sentiments over the past one week with bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkey decreasing by 60 percent, while cancellations have surged by 250 per cent during the same period,” MakeMyTrip (MMT) said in a statement on Wednesday.
While the MMT platform has not stopped offering flight bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan, it said that it stands “in solidarity with our nation and out of deep respect for our armed forces, we strongly support this sentiment and advise against all non-essential travel to Azerbaijan and Turkey. We have already discontinued all promotions and offers on our platform to discourage tourism to these two destinations."
On the same lines, online travel agency EaseMyTrip founder and former chairman Nishant Pitti said that his travel agency has seen 22 percent cancellations of trips to Turkey and more than 30 percent cancellations to Azerbaijan after the portal issued a travel advisory on May 9, strongly advising limiting travel to both these countries unless essential. Pitti added that the platform has chosen not to cancel or boycott existing bookings to avoid widespread inconvenience.
As per the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, as many as 243,589 Indian tourists visited the country in 2024. The tourism board expects a growth of 11 per cent from now until the next 10 years. Turkey saw Indian arrivals at 3,30,000 passengers in 2024, while the number stood at 119,503 in 2014 as per the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.
There are roughly 13,000 seats between India and Turkey each way on a weekly basis, while Azerbaijan and India have a little over 3,000 seats each way on a weekly basis.
