Turkey on March 15 held out the prospect that UK sun-seekers might be able to take a Turkish holiday this summer even if they have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Tourism minister Mehmet Ersoy said the country was "looking forward to welcoming British tourists with open arms".

However, the day also brought fears that Turkey is struggling to get a grip on its coronavirus outbreak—the worst in the Middle East in terms of the number of infections—when lines of traffic stretching from the Bosporus bridge in Istanbul highlighted how the country is relaxing its pandemic restrictions at a time when it is suffering its worst COVID-19 infection rates in three months. Added to that, Turkey has a poor record of transparency in declaring the true extent of its difficulties with the virus—in the late autumn last year, countries including the UK and Germany quickly adjusted their travel advice on Turkey after it emerged that its health ministry had been keeping asymptomatic coronavirus cases out of its daily infection rate briefings, even though carriers of coronavirus with no symptoms can still spread the disease. The false picture given by the data may have caused many British, Russian and other foreign holidaymakers to pick up infections in holiday spots that they determined were safer than they actually were.

The missing $22bn

Turkey is desperate to revive its international tourism industry, a key source of hard currency. The country’s tourism revenues were last year around $22bn lower than they were in 2019.

After April 15, Turkey is set to re-evaluate the current restriction under which foreign visitors must produce evidence of a negative PCR coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of their departure.

Ersoy said: "We have world-class border processes in place for ensuring travel will be low-risk throughout Turkey.

"We are working with the British authorities to ensure these necessary processes are world class and as up to date as possible.

"We will not require vaccination passports from international travellers when entering the country."

He added: "I expect there will be no such requirement from British visitors as the UK government is rapidly and impressively rolling out the vaccination programme for the whole nation, and a significant portion of the population will be vaccinated by early summer."

The minister also said employees at hotels and other tourist facilities in Turkey would be prioritised for COVID-19 jabs before the summer season.