Supporting Pakistan during ‘Operation Sindoor’ is costing Turkey dearly. Türkiye and Azerbaijan are two countries which came forward in support of Pakistan amid the conflict between the two countries in May. Its effect has been that there has been a huge decline in the movement of Indian tourists here. This has been revealed in recent times by the data of tourism statistics. In the last few years, Azerbaijan and Türkiye had emerged as the favorite holiday destinations of Indians. Direct flight service between the two countries was also increased. Istanbul, one of the many major airports of Türkiye, also started seeing people from India on a large scale.
According to data from Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of Indians visiting Turkey declined by one-third to about 90,400 between May and August, whereas last year this number was about 1.36 lakh. About 83,300 Indians visited Turkey in the first four months of 2025, slightly lower than the number of 84,500 visitors in the same period last year. That means this number is gradually decreasing.
Indians together taught a lesson
India always helped Turkey in times of need, but Indians did not like their decision to help Pakistan during ‘Operation Vermillion’. As a result, Indians started boycotting Turkey and Azerbaijan. Its effect was visible from May itself, when people started canceling bookings indiscriminately. Many big companies also stopped flight and hotel services to Türkiye and Azerbaijan. After ‘Operation Sindoor’, travel portals like MakeMyTrip and EaseMyTrip had also advised against non-essential travel to these countries.
India turned its back on Türkiye and Azerbaijan
According to recently released data of Azerbaijan Tourism Board, the number of tourists coming from India increased by 33 percent between January and April, but declined by about 56 percent between May-August. The number of Indian tourists visiting Azerbaijan dropped to about 44,000 between May and August, compared to about 1,00,000 in the same period last year. Overall, the number of Indian tourists visiting Azerbaijan in the first eight months of 2025 declined by 22 percent year-on-year, to about 1.25 lakh.
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