ISTANBUL: The collapse of the Turkish lira has caused trauma as Turks see their purchasing power slashed, but bargain-hunting foreign tourists visiting the country at the peak of the summer season are cashing in on a currency windfall.
Visitors, mainly from Saudi Arabia and Asia, formed long queues in Istanbul outside luxury stores like Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Prada after the lira took a severe hit against dollar, losing over 16 per cent of its value on Friday. “Everything is getting cheaper and cheaper,” said Saudi Arabian tourist Nasir El Nabir, outside a chic store in an upscale Istanbul neighbourhood.
“It’s like a 30 per cent sale, so I am really affected in a positive way.”
Laden with shopping bags, tourists have enjoyed a shopping bonanza before retailers hike prices to take account of the lira’s devaluation, under the slightly bewildered gaze of Turks who have borne the brunt of the crisis.
The queues suggest that the plunge in the lira, driven by Turkey’s bitter dispute with the US, is set to give a boost to the key tourism industry, which struggled greatly after a failed coup and terror attacks in 2016.
The lira’s plunge — which had been ongoing for weeks — was turned into a rout last Friday when US President Donald Trump tweeted that Washington was doubling aluminium and steel tariffs for Turkey.
The Turkish currency has since clawed back some ground.
Xenos Lemis, a tourist from Cyprus, said he had been following the currency drama in real time.
“We check the price of the lira every two hours and there is a significant change. So for shopping for a tourist, this is a blessing,” he added.
But some visitors lamented that they also lost money when they converted a large sum of foreign money to the Turkish currency just before the crisis broke.
“I’m quite surprised because I took a lot of cash from the bank in lira and when I woke up in the morning I found out that I almost lost (the equivalent of) one hundred or two hundred during one night,” Kobe Wu Kejia, a Chinese tourist, said.
“This is pretty scary.”
Turkey’s tourism sector, which came under severe pressure due to the attacks and failed coup of 2016, had already appeared to have sprung to its feet this year despite the country’s economic woes.
Meanwhile, Russian tourism has also sprung back to life after being devastated by a political crisis between Ankara and Moscow in 2015.
Firuz Baglikaya, head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), said there was a 30 per cent increase in tourism in Turkey compared to last year.
— AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
