Turkiye, Azerbaijan Nexus With Pakistan Triggers Mass Tour Cancellations

Hundreds of Indian travellers are cancelling plans to visit Turkiye and Azerbaijan following their support for Pakistan in its conflict with India.

India's largest online travel agency, MakeMyTrip, has seen a 250% surge in cancellations over the past week, while bookings for Azerbaijan and Turkiye dropped by 60%, according to a company spokesperson. The company has discontinued all promotions to discourage tourism to these two countries.

The second largest player — EaseMyTrip — has also reported several cancellation of trips. "We've seen 22% cancellation of trips to Turkey and more than 30% cancellations to Azerbaijan," Co-Founder and Chairperson Nishant Pitti told NDTV Profit.

These cancellations took place after the travel portal issued a travel advisory on May 9, strongly advising limiting travel to both these countries unless essential. Pitti added that the platform has chosen not to cancel or boycott flight bookings to avoid widespread inconvenience, as many travellers use Turkiye simply as a layover.

"Over the past week, Indian travellers have made their sentiments clear, with cancellations rising by 260%," Cleartrip said in a statement.

Travel aggregators, including Ixigo, Cox & Kings, Pickyourtrail and Travomint, have also suspended fresh bookings to Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Despite the current political rift, India remains a key source market for these countries. In 2024, India accounted for 13% of Azerbaijan's tourist arrivals — up from negligible levels a decade ago — with 2.43 lakh visitors, a massive 108% increase over 2023.

Turkiye's tourism growth is also notable, registering 3.3 lakh Indian visitors in the past year, which is a 20.7% increase compared to 2023. In 2014, only 1.19 lakh Indians visited Turkiye.

These tourists collectively spent more than Rs 3,000 crore last year — an expenditure Pitti suggests should now be redirected to India-friendly destinations.

Smaller tour operators echoed similar sentiments.

"Our members have noticed roughly about 15-20% cancellations in the last few days for outbound travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan," said Ravi Gosain, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators. "Clearly, nationalistic sentiments are running high, and because both of these countries are perceived to support Pakistan, many people are cancelling their plans to visit them."

Go Homestays, too, has severed ties with Turkish Airlines. "Going forward, we will no longer include their flights in our international travel packages," the domestic accommodation provider said in a post on X.

Social media platforms have amplified the boycott, with hashtags like #BoycottTurkey and #BoycottAzerbaijan trending. 

Prominent figures, too, have joined the boycott chorus. RPG Group chairperson Harsh Goenka and actress Rupali Ganguly urged Indians not to travel to Turkiye and Azerbaijan. Music composer and singer Vishal Mishra became the first to cancel his upcoming shows in these countries.

The backlash began soon after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly criticised the military attack in Pakistan, even as the rest of the world was condemning the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. The online protest further intensified after the Indian government confirmed the drones shot down near the border during the conflict were Turkish.

"At this juncture, travel transcends logistics—it's about empathy," said Karan Agarwal, director, Cox & Kings. "As our promotions for destinations such as Turkey and Azerbaijan remain temporarily suspended, we are encouraged by the growing traveller sentiment to resume bookings for other international and domestic destinations."

Ved Khanna, president of the Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India, said there was a “sharp decline” in interest for Turkiye and Azerbaijan, with at least 16 cancellations for Azerbaijan and no new enquiries since May 8.

Travellers, who had made nearly full payments, have asked to postpone their plans, while others have cancelled entirely and are now opting for destinations such as Thailand and Greece, according to P P Khanna, director, Diplomatic Travel Point Pvt. "So far, we have cancelled about 15 bookings for Azerbaijan scheduled between May and August. Some travellers are even willing to absorb losses from cancellation charges."

"While Indian tourism to Turkey and Azerbaijan had been growing rapidly, nobody knew about Azerbaijan until a few years ago," said Khanna. "Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, has been attracting travellers seeking a European experience without paying a hefty price, while interest for Turkey has surged among lovebirds looking for low-cost destination weddings."

The peak season for Azerbaijan is June to August, while Turkiye sees year-round travel, according to Sunil Dang, director of Le Travelworld. However, the outlook for the upcoming holiday season looks quite bleak at this moment, with cancellations expected to continue for the next 6-9 months.

Experts warn that the blow to tourism, together with traders shunning Turkish goods, could potentially surpass the impact of last year’s Maldives crisis, when derogatory remarks by Maldivian officials led to a significant drop in Indian visitors, costing the island nation over $1.8-2 billion.

The ongoing boycott could render airline operations commercially unviable. Currently, IndiGo and Turkish Airlines operate daily flights between Istanbul and India, with a total of 28 weekly departures.

IndiGo also offers daily flights from Delhi to Baku, while seven weekly flights are operated by Azerbaijan Airways.

While there have been no cancellations on these routes so far, airlines may be forced to reduce capacity if demand continues to decline.