The move, which hit airline shares and was seen as curbing foreign currency outflows, was one of two measures announced by the BDDK watchdog late on Monday, which it said were among coordinated steps to strengthen financial stability.
Tourism operators say they have been hit in recent years by a cost-of-living crisis and weakness in the lira, which has lost half its value against the dollar since end-2021, with travellers commonly using credit cards to finance trips. "Almost all of my clients were paying by instalments," said Cem Polatoglu, spokesman of a tour operators' platform, noting an average trip for two cost around 50,000 lira . "The number of people who can pay this amount in one go is very few."
"The logic is 'citizens shouldn't go abroad and spend foreign currency'," he said, adding that the foreign travel sector was also being hit by increasing difficulties faced by Turks in securing tourist visas. Polatoglu forecast a sharp fall in the numbers going abroad after a surge in spending by Turkish citizens abroad in the first half of the year to $3.17 billion - an 84% increase from the same period in 2022 - with such spending facilitated by credit card outlays.