ISTANBUL, May 26 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish court on Friday rejected the appeal of the Dutch online travel agent, booking.com, against a ban on its activities in Turkey.
The court in Istanbul decided to uphold an earlier ruling on the agent's operations in the country that cited unfair competition against local agencies, according to Daily Sabah.
Booking.com was suspended in Turkey on March 29 following a lawsuit filed by the country's leading tourism institution, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), which argued that the online agent should obey the same rules and regulations for local travel agencies by paying taxes and opening a branch in Turkey.
Turkey's competition institution had previously fined booking.com over 700,000 U.S. dollars, press reports said.
Booking.com can be used in foreign countries to make reservations for Turkish hotels but cannot be accessed inside Turkey.
