IN early spring, the streets of Van, a border city in eastern Türkiye, usually buzz with Persian accents. Iranian families stroll past shop windows, couples linger in lakeside cafes, and tour boats drift across the sparkling waters of Lake Van, the country’s largest lake and the Middle East’s second-largest.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Iranians have made their way to Van annually for short holidays, shopping sprees, and seasonal getaways, with early spring marking the peak season. To cater to Iranian visitors, Persian-language signs now line the city’s main streets. Retailers adjust prices and product selections to match Iranian tastes, while hotels, restaurants, and transport services have expanded rapidly to keep up with growing demand. “Tourism and border trade are of vital importance for Van,” Necdet Takva, president of the Van Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Xinhua, noting that the latest figures show the number of Iranian visitors to the city has surpassed 800,000 in a single year.
But in the past few days, a tense quiet has settled over the border city. On 28 February, the United States and Israel launched sudden strikes on Iran, prompting widespread Iranian retaliation across the region. Van, Türkiye’s border city reliant on Iranian tourists, reels from escalating regional conflict.
Iranian visitors have vanished from streets, slashing expected 2026 arrivals from one million. Border trade plummets, with tourism and commerce losses in hundreds of millions of dollars, says business leader Takva. Nowruz peak season sees hotel bookings evaporate.
“Normally full occupancy; now sudden stop,” says Elite World Van Hotel GM Oktay Aksoy. Short disruptions ripple through hotels, restaurants, and shops, threatening future investments amid uncertainty.
Xinhua
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