Istanbul, Dec 11 (IANS): Turkey's tourism sector is projected to decrease by 70 per cent this year as foreign tourist numbers plummeted due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said.

"It seems that we will end the year with a 70 per cent decrease in the number of foreign tourists and a 67 to 68 per cent decrease in tourism revenues," Xinhua news agency quoted Ersoy as saying at the opening of the 4th Istanbul Economy Summit on Thursday.

The Minister noted that at the beginning of 2020, Turkey's projection for the year's tourism was higher than ever as it had received significant advance bookings from abroad in January and February.

"Our goal for this year was to host 58 million foreign tourists with 41 billion dollars of revenue," Ersoy said.

He added that however, the coronavirus pandemic made the goal impossible.

The Minister further said that Turkey expects a significant recovery with a 100 per cent growth in the tourism sector after the pandemic.

As of Friday, Turkey has reported a total of 955,766 confirmed coronavirus cases and 15,751 deaths.