A total of 738 Ukrainian tourists who bought holidays in Turkey via tour packages from the Karya Tour travel agency currently remain in that country.

The culture and information attaché of the Turkish Embassy in Ukraine, Berat Yildiz, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday that 3,900 tourists who bought tour packages at Karya Tour were on holiday in Turkey when the tour operator announced it had ceased its activities. They include 1,724 Ukrainians, as well as citizens of Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, he added.

Yildiz said that the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, along with tour operators, in particular, Tez Tour, had taken measures to ensure that tourists could continue to spend their holidays and be able to return to Ukraine on time.

He said that around 110 tourists should arrive in Ukraine on July 13, 350 on July 14 and that almost all Ukrainians would return home by July 22.

The spokeswoman for Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), Yevheniya Satska, said that Karya Tour had informed the airline on July 8 that it faced difficulties, so it asked the company to cancel all of the flights from Ukraine to Turkey, starting from July 9.

From July 9, UIA conducted only technical flights, i.e. on the transportation of tourists from Turkey to Ukraine.

She said that 700 passengers had been delivered to Ukraine July 9 through July 11 and that 430 more tourists would return home by July 16.

"We guarantee that all of the tourists will return to Ukraine," Satska said.

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