Calls on Twitter to boycott Turkish tourism go viral

CAIRO – 24 May 2018: There was a wave of announcements via Twitter by hundreds of users from the UAE and other Gulf states supporting a call for boycotting Turkish tourism, using the hashtag #BoycottTurkshTouriism.

The hashtag #مقاطعة_السياحة_التركية was heavily circulated across Twitter after the tweets.

Turkey has long profited from being one of the world's top tourist attractions, especially for Europeans who would throng to the Sultanahmet district that is home to the Hagia Sophia museum, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar.

But now, most of those Europeans are gone because they are angry with Turkey for what appears to be a lurch away from democracy to an authoritarian state under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, complained carpet seller Oscar Raci, 43, who had gone 10 days without a single buying customer.