After Türkiye and Azerbaijan’s public support for Pakistan, Indian tourists have turned away from traveling to these two countries. Its direct impact has come in the form of a huge decline in tourism and travel bookings. After ‘Operation Sindoor’, there has been a huge decline in the number of Indian travelers in both the countries, which in a way turned into a travel boycott based on public sentiment.
Record decline in the number of tourists
According to a report by The Indian Express, the number of Indian travelers to Azerbaijan declined by 56% between May and August. Only 44,000 Indians traveled there during this period, whereas last year this figure was around 1 lakh. Only 6,032 Indians arrived in August – an annual decline of 72%. The same trend was seen in Türkiye also. Between May and August, the number of Indian passengers declined to 90,400, which was 1.36 lakh last year. In the total period of January-August 2025, the number of passengers was 1.74 lakh, whereas in 2024 the same figure was 3.31 lakh.
Travel industry showed strictness, ban on booking
Indian online travel agencies such as MakeMyTrip, EasyMyTrip, ixigo and Cox & Kings removed listings for Turkey and Azerbaijan or advised to avoid non-essential travel. On May 14, MakeMyTrip said, ‘Indian travelers have expressed strong sentiment over the past week – bookings for Azerbaijan and Türkiye have declined by 60%, while cancellations have increased by 250%. We support this sentiment out of respect for our nation and our armed forces.
empty flights
According to DGCA data, 80,567 passengers flew directly from India to Azerbaijan in 2024, almost three times the number of 28,899 in 2023. Direct flights to Türkiye also recorded a record number of 5.05 lakh passengers, but now airlines and tour operators are reporting a sharp decline in load factor. This blow is big for Azerbaijan because it had declared India as its ‘main target market’. At the same time, Turkey is also facing stagnation in passengers coming from India.