What Does The Turkish Currency Devaluation Mean For Travelers?

Great time to go for a short period of time between having good deals and people getting desperate that they resort to crimes.

Let this be a lesson. Any country that turns to religion enmasse fails. Religious people are nutjobs that are better on the fringes of society.

This is good news for me because I had to book a last minute trip to South Asia for a Family Emergency and since it's currently summer last minute tickets were extremely pricey. I ended up booking a Turkish Airlines economy one way for travel on the 7th and arrival on the 8th (I was ironically on the flight that got damaged by the Royal Air Maroc Dreamliner from JFK at Istanbul) and a refundable Qatar airways economy ticket and my return is on Sunday. I was looking to cancel the booking and get a refund on the return portion of the trip and book something more cheaper (or in business class for the same price, last minute tickets are way to expensive). Hopefully this will price out good and we can take this instead (and this time not get hit by another plane 🙂

So long as the diplomatic issues involving visas doesn't come up again...

@James

Great article! Have been following the economic situation for a while and for the last 10 days or so, the massive deterioration of their currency and was wondering how it will affect traveling to or through Turkey.

Also, do you think this will have a major impact on their planned opening of the new Istanbul Airport. Supposed to open in about 2 months from now...

Hope we don't have many Turkish Lira in our safe...

My flight SFO-IST leaves in 8 hours

Excellent reporting, James.

And yes, still planning to visit in October.

@ kevin - I would not expect any immediately obvious effects except that when you exchange US Dollars for Lira you will receive more Lira that you would have a week ago.

I was able to price out something in TRY on EK's website earlier but now it seems like they deleted the option of paying in TRY in the payment page.

Turkey was already dirt-cheap when I visited Istanbul on my stopover in June. 40% off just makes me feel like I'm ripping off the locals. With that said, if I had the time/opportunity, I'd absolutely jump on a trip to Turkey right now - I've been wanting to go back for a while. And, as a woman traveling alone, I felt perfectly safe during my stopover, though I stuck to the airport and the downtown/Old City.

@ Anastasia - I visited Istanbul only a few months after the Arab Spring protests, and to be honest other than a few burn marks in Taksim Square, I didn't even remember the protests had been on before I was there.

@James - I also know a large number of Russian expats, all women, who have moved to Turkey (mostly Istanbul) and love it there. They don't feel unsafe at all. Obviously, I exercise caution when traveling, but Turkey is not a place I'd be afraid to return to.

@James

How much do Aussies pay for a visa. I did the Evisa and it was $20 USD for multiple entry for American passport holders.

@ StevenK - it's EUR60 for a single entry which is around US$70.

@Stevenk

$65usd

@kevin, the Istanbul Doner Kebab just got 40% cheaper!

Qatar Airways are no dummies when it comes to selling their tickets. The prices which last months were in Turkish Liras are now in USD. This being said, I MIGHT have considered a quick or even overnight transit at IST to catch them but the country has become FAR TOO DANGEROUS AND UNPREDICTABLE to consider any tourism there. These people are nuts. Anybody who doubts it, go see the old movie MIDNIGHT EXPRESS.

Hotel rates in Turkey are very considerably higher now than they were during the prolonged security situation of a couple of years ago ( when rates were under €100, even for W and StR). Hotels continue to charge in Euros and will take a windfall profit in the event that tourist/business numbers remain reasonable.
So while airfares look cheap, staying at a hotel is not suddenly a bargain...and particularly for those using currencies that have declined from the "flight to safety" boost in the USD as a consequence of the 'trade war', eg AUD, CAD, NZD, EUR, GBP.
Of course, restaurants should me much cheaper....at least until inflation kicks in.
This is going to be a miserable time for the Turkish people, thanks to this " shoot from the hip" lunacy from the bloated horror in DC.

@Pierre: It is obvious you have never been to Turkey or Istanbul so I would refrain from commenting on things you have no experience of. As for the Midnight Express reference, that is particularly laughable - even the author of the book the film is based in disowned the film as it was an offensive and untruthful depiction of Turkey - it was also a very longtime ago.

I was there last August for a friends wedding - I am not Turkish and felt absolutely safe in Istanbul, including at night. Turkey has always been quite secure in this respect, it is common for families to picnic at night which I saw when I first visited 10 yrs ago. The government has also upped security with a visible light touch presence so your bag will be scanned entering underground transit stations etc but apart from that life goes on and it is a really lovely and fascinating city to visit, with great food and culture. I would absolutely encourage people to go and take advantage of the favourable exchange rate, especially for Brits where Europe is quite expensive now due to our own currency woes.

Hi James, another wonderful article. Turkey is one of the most amazing countries I have visited. Have been there a couple of times, and the most impressive thing is the people - from the cities to the country. Warm hospitable and generous. And then there is Ephesus, Cappadocia, Pergamon, Istanbul (not Constantinople), Hagia Sophia . . . It goes on and on.

I wish I had thought of cheap airfares and a revisit before I spent all my travel money on getting to Qantas’s platinum status during their double Status Credits offer.

Surprised you didn’t write about it. Anyway it set me thinking about how much it costs to earn Platinum Status on Qantas. Points v costs are very inconsistent, however I did find one airfare that gave me a Status Credit Point for AU$6 instead of the usual AU$16.

https://www.2paxfly.com/2018/08/13/how-much-does-a-qantas-status-credit-cost/

It's about time to bring that dictator to his knees.

@vicnc

Trust me I have... and far too often. Oh the things one has to go through for earning one's living... But I would not have more the idea to go to Turkey on vacation than I would to Liberia or Equatorial Guinea.

Where do you see the chance for cheap flights?
All tariffs are priced in GDS in USD and not Turkish lira.

Turkey is going through what the US will go through in about ten years if Trump and Republicans remain in power. While Turks are dumb to support Erdogan, Americans are even dumber.

And Matt. You are dumber still. But, I digress. This is a travel blog. Sorry.

Not true at all this.

I fly TK Biz between IST and Asia every two months on average.
A week ago the IST-SIN/HKG tickets were 12,500 TRY semi-flex biz return (at the time about 2500 USD), now any date I search in the coming months is at 20,500 TRY (which is about 3000 USD).
So they are adapted prices and even increasing them to make up for other losses.

@ Pierre

“Anybody who doubts it, go see the old movie MIDNIGHT EXPRESS.”

Quite right. Just as the old movie MISSISSIPPI BURNING is in fact a documentary showing what it’s like to visit the USA today; while ELIZABETH shows just how dangerous it is for Catholics to visit England.

Hi Ben,
You might be right, except all intl airfares and taxes are based on either USD or EUR, so that will not be any cheap fare for any intl flight you would look for.
On the other hand domestic fares are based on TRY which would result as the discount you refer to.

@ Henry - have a look at the Premium Fare Deals link in the article. If you can manage to price it in Lira you may be able to ticket it cheaper but as I said, this situation changes by the day.

@Pierre: You are quite clearly lying, the way you present Turkey is not anything anyone who's actually been there would recognise including James. When you bullsh*t you get found out, and you have just been found out!

@vicnc: Get a life while Turkey is not yet Venezuela.

I think your math is wrong. If a dollar used to buy five lira and now buys seven, everything will be 28% cheaper, not 40%. A 10 lira item used to cost $2, now costs $1.42, that's not 40% off.

@Pierre, I wanted to reply but @The nice Paul already addressed that. Just go through other reviews and you will see how others see tourism in Turkey, unless you have certain bias against this beautiful country.

@Paolo, agree with you. My wife and children visited Turkey last month and found the hotels in Istanbul were not cheap at all. You can get better deals if you visit areas not usually visited by tourists but then it does not make any sense. Tourism has picked up and there are Russians and other folks from other parts of the world visiting Turkey. It has definitely rebounded as compared to a year ago. Only time will tell how they cope with the current financial crisis.

Hi James, for a long time now international airfares originating in Turkey are filed in USD and if sold in Turkey, converted to Lira at the time of sale, this negates the effect of currency fluctuations on what’s considered a relatively unstable currency. Only domestic fares within Turkey are filed and quoted in Lira.

Now may be a good time to travel. You can get even cheaper prices! It is very interesting to see the graph and watch how suddenly the devaluation of the Lira happened.

@Pierre: Lol! And that folks is when you have lost the argument and are found out! XD

To paraphrase:”Ben flew Turkish recently and had a great experience”. A 2-3-2 Configuration in Business Class is not Excellent (unless the pic is not indicative).

@ John - if you read his review ive linked youll see he says its a very underrated product