ISTANBUL – The number of Saudi tourists to Turkey during the first seven months of 2019 has dropped by 16.96 percent and by 20.11 percent during last July, compared to the same two periods last year, data issued by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism have shown. During the first seven months of 2018, the number of Saudi tourists reached 445,875 but only 370,265 Saudis traveled to Turkey during the first seven months of 2019. Meanwhile, during July 2018, Saudi tourists to Turkey reached 165,331 while in July 2019, they reached 135,273. Six warnings The Saudi Embassy in Ankara had issued six warnings to Saudi citizens, the last of which was in mid-August. This was after an armed attack against a Saudi citizen in Shishli. The Saudi citizen had to undergo several surgeries in one of Istanbul's hospitals. In a statement it issued last Monday, the Saudi Embassy announced that Saudi woman Abeer Al-Enizi, who had been kidnapped by a Syrian gang in Istanbul, had been found. She had gone out to purchase a pair of shoes from a mall near the hotel where she was staying with her husband and children. Turkish gang Last month, the embassy warned Saudi citizens about Turkish gangs targeting Saudi tourists and robbing them of their passports, money and valuables at three Turkish tourist locations – Taksim, Atakoy and Besiktas, in Istanbul. In a statement it issued last May, the Kingdom's embassy in Ankara said it had received many complaints from Saudi investors and property owners about problems they were facing in the field of real estate in Turkey. Examples include not obtaining ownership documents or not obtaining ownership documents linked with real estate mortgage, in addition to barring them from entering their residences, despite full payment of the real estate property value. Furthermore, they are threatened by contracting companies.
