PanARMENIAN.Net - A string of terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic State or Kurdish militants, on top of a diplomatic feud with Russia, are battering Turkey’s tourism industry, which had been one of the few bright spots in a slowing economy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Bookings for this summer are down 40% from last year, and hotel occupancy rates have plunged more than half, according to industry figures. Hundreds of hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and boutique resorts have been put up for sale.

Turkey’s tourism sector boomed in recent years, buoyed by a flood of Russians seeking its Mediterranean beaches and Westerners and Arabs drawn to its stability in a region witnessing the Arab Spring upheavals.

The industry accounts for more than 4% of Turkey’s gross domestic product and employs more than one million people, or about 7% of the working population, WSJ says citing government data.

The German Travel Association and TUI Group, the world’s largest tour operator, say their own summer bookings to Turkey have plummeted 40% compared with last year.

Tourism was one of Turkey’s few bright spots in recent years, as growth in the overall economy slowed to about 3%, from an average of 5% the preceding decade, according to WSJ.

But last year, revenues contracted for the first time since 2010, shrinking 8% to $31.5 billion. Tourism revenues in January fell at an even faster pace, dropping 19% from a year earlier, according to central-bank data released March 10.