Turkey’s tourism minister is facing calls to resign after public criticism of an official video promoting tourism that includes workers wearing “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated” face masks.
The video was released by the government-linked Go Turkiye travel guide on Thursday, and encourages foreign tourists to visit the “safe haven” for holidays.
“Sanitised resorts and vaccinated staff,” the video said as masked waiters were seen serving unmasked visitors. “We call it double safety for tourism. Our guests call it peace of mind.”
Turkey is currently in its final days of a strict lockdown, requiring businesses to close and people stay at home – except for exempt workers and foreign tourists.
In April, coronavirus infections hit highs of 62,000 a day. Restrictions have since lowered this to around 11,500.
Vaccines have so far been prioritised for tourism workers as part of a push to “vaccinate all people tourists may see by the end of May”. Nearly 13% of the population have now received both doses of China’s Sinovac or the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine; however, many are still waiting their turn.
This drive to promote tourism is the government’s bid to begin economic recovery during the downturn, especially as the Turkish lira continues to lose value.
However, Thursday’s video was not received well by Turks, many of whom said they found it insulting. This resulted in a hashtag trending on the same day calling for the tourism minister’s resignation.
