According to information disseminated by Indian media, the number of Indian tourists traveling to Azerbaijan and Turkey has sharply decreased following "Operation Sindur".
The editorial office reports that, according to India's The Indian Express newspaper, this decrease is particularly sharp in Azerbaijan — the number of tourists from India dropped by 56 percent between May and August. Visits to Turkey, meanwhile, fell by 33.3 percent.
According to the information, the decline occurred after Azerbaijan and Turkey openly supported Islamabad during the military confrontation with Pakistan. In May, Azerbaijan supported Pakistan's position, while Turkey issued a statement demanding an international investigation into the Pahalgam attack. It is also noted that Turkey supplied weapons to Pakistan in the past.
According to figures released by the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, the number of tourists from India had increased by 33 percent in the January–April period compared to the previous year, but a 56 percent decrease was recorded in the subsequent four months.
Both countries had been growing increasingly popular among Indian travelers in recent years, facilitated by the opening of direct flights to Baku and Istanbul and Turkey becoming a transit hub for other destinations.
However, since May, a significant decrease in bookings has been observed following India's ceasefire agreement with Pakistan and calls for a boycott of Turkey and Azerbaijan on social media. A representative from MakeMyTrip told Reuters that "bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkey have decreased by 60 percent, while cancellations have increased by 250 percent during the same period."
Rikant Pittie, CEO of EaseMyTrip, added that travelers are redirecting their plans to Georgia, Serbia, Greece, Thailand, and Vietnam. "We have recorded 22 percent cancellations for Turkey and 30 percent for Azerbaijan," he noted.
Visa processing platform Atlys also confirmed a 42 percent decrease in visa applications for Turkey and Azerbaijan.