Turkey will cover the cost of Covid-19 medical treatment for holidaymakers, the country’s tourism minister has announced.
Turkish minister of tourism and culture Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has revealed plans to reopen to tourists under a Safe Tourism Certification Program to keep visitors safe from COVID-19, Travel Weekly reported.
Available from July 1, it will be possible for tourists to buy specific insurance policies at airports, tour operators and online.
According to the Ministry insurance policy fees will be:
– a policy costing 15 Euros for health expenditure up to 3,000 Euros;
– a policy costing 19 Euros for health expenditure up to 5,000 Euros;
– a policy costing 23 Euros for health expenditure up to 7,000 Euros.
The plan covers all aspects of the journey from the aircraft to the airport, transfers and hotels.
The new protocols and health and safety regime were set out to the media and representatives of source markets in Antalya.
Ersoy said the actions being put in place in Turkey were “trailblazing” and claimed its safe tourism certification programme was one of the first in the world to be rolled out.
He said: “We would like take this opportunity to remind our guests that we will be looking forward to welcome their citizens to Turkey after the resumption of international flights.
“Observing the positive impression made by the measures we have taken on our guests further confirms the expediency of our Safe Tourism Certification programme.
“We considered all the details for our guests who want to have a holiday in our country.”
Ersoy said the number of Covid-19 cases is now “quite low” in popular tourist cities such as Aydın, Antalya and Muğla.
He added: “Thanks to our thousands of healthcare professionals working here, these cities are also health centres as well as tourism.
“We thought of all the details for our guests who want to have a holiday in our country during the epidemic period. As of July 1, we have created a health insurance package that includes Covid-19 for our foreign guests visiting our country.
All health expenses up to €3,000, €5,0000 and €7,000 thousand can be covered within the scope of 15, 19, and 23 Euro insurance packages that can be purchased through contracted airlines, various sales points before passport control, tour operators, and online channels.
“Our guests can feel comfortable, just like the Safe Tourism Certificate, we are thinking for all of the details on behalf of them.”
The countries that have joined the scheme ‘to date’ are,
England, Ireland, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Kuwait , Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Full information on the Safe Tourism Certificate programme is available in English on the Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency website.
(Source: Travel Weekly)