Turkey, Azerbaijan See Dip In Indian Tourists Post Operation Sindoor

<p>Indian tourist traffic to Turkey and Azerbaijan has sharply declined following the military confrontation between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, a report has revealed. Among the two nations, Azerbaijan has been hit the hardest.</p>
<p>Baku witnessed a 56% drop in Indian visitors between May and August, while Turkey saw a 33.3% decline, as per the report by The Indian Express. Tourism is a major economic sector for both countries, which had previously seen growing numbers of Indian travellers due to increasing flight connectivity and rising popularity as vacation destinations.</p>
<h2>Indians’ Call To Boycott Turkey, Azerbaijan</h2>
<p>The downturn followed both nations&rsquo; support for Pakistan during the four-day military standoff in May, triggering widespread calls in India to boycott travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan. Travel portals reported a steep decline in bookings and a surge in cancellations soon after <a title=”Operation Sindoor” href=”https://news.abplive.com/topic/operation-sindoor” data-type=”interlinkingkeywords”>Operation Sindoor</a>.</p>
<p>Leading travel service providers, including MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Ixigo, and Cox &amp; Kings, advised against non-essential travel to these destinations. MakeMyTrip noted that bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkey had fallen by 60%, while cancellations surged by 250% during the same period. &ldquo;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,&rdquo; the company said on May 14.</p>
<p>Azerbaijan Tourism Board data corroborated the decline, showing that while Indian arrivals had grown 33% year-on-year from January to April, numbers plummeted by nearly 56% in the following four months. Between May and August, Indian tourists visiting Azerbaijan fell to around 44,000 from nearly 100,000 during the same period in 2024.</p>