Families of Istanbul victims offered free holidays

ANTALYA, Turkey

The mayor of a Mediterranean resort in Turkey has offered free holidays for life to the families of the German victims of the terror attack in Istanbul.

In a meeting between Mustafa Gul and Martin Vetter, Germany’s consul in Antalya, Gul said relatives of the 11 victims could have yearly one-week holidays in Kemer for the rest of their lives, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

The town, which sits on the Gulf of Antalya surrounded by sandy beaches, relies heavily on tourists from Germany, the Netherlands and Russia.

Thanking Gul, Vetter said the victims’ families would get in contact with town officials.

A suicide bomb attack on Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district on Jan. 12 killed 11 German tourists. The attack was a blow to Turkey’s tourist industry, which is a major source of revenue, and came after Russia warning its nationals against visiting over the shooting down of a Russian warplane in November.

According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkey received $27.78 billion from 35.8 million foreign tourists in 2014.