MADRID - The UN World Tourism Organization signed an agreement Friday with Turkey to help the country boost its ailing tourism sector, which has suffered due to a string of bombings and a failed coup. "Turkey is absolutely important for us," the UNWTO's Jordanian secretary general Taleb Rifai said after he and Turkish Tourism Minister Nabi Avci signed the agreement in Madrid. The agency will also assist Turkish efforts to boost the number of direct flights from key European markets, she added. It is our duty today to consolidate this action by supporting one of the most important economic sectors of Turkey which is tourism," Rifai added. The uprising has further undermined Turkey's tourism industry, already hit by repeated suicide bombings over the past year that have spooked visitors, including one in June that killed 47 people at Istanbul's main airport.

Source: Bangkok Post July 22, 2016 17:15 UTC