The tourism sector in Turkey aspires to break new records by the end of this year, after it succeeded during 2022 to reach the level it was before the emergence of the Corona epidemic in 2019.
Turkey has a model in the tourism industry represented by its possession of a group of tourism templates, most notably: beach tourism, exhibition and conference tourism, adventure tourism, and sports tourism.
Burhan Shelley, a member of the Administrative Council of the Hotel Operators Association in Turkey, says that the tourism exhibitions to be held in Turkey and hotel reservations suggest that the positive scene will dominate Turkish tourism during the current year.
Shelley, who is the head of the Tourist Facilities Operators Association in the Alanya region, southern Turkey, added to Anadolu Agency that they spent the last tourist season in light of the effects of the Corona epidemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war.
He stressed that the current season, 2023, will be better than last year, “unless global crises emerge,” as he put it.
“The best thing we did during the Corona epidemic was to diversify the Turkish tourism market, as we succeeded in opening up to the East, the Far East and other markets, after we were focusing more on the European market.”
The numbers of Russian and Ukrainian tourism, and to a lesser extent, European ones, fluctuated due to the consequences of the war on the one hand, and the inflation that hit the European Union countries greatly, on the other hand.
Burhan Şili explained that one of the main reasons behind the Turkish tourism sector’s ability to reach pre-coronavirus numbers in 2022 is the diversification of the target and supply markets for tourists.
He added, “We are working hard to raise the Turkish tourism sector to a better level.”
As one of the indicators of the positive scene in Turkish tourism, Shelley said that the number of active hotels during the current winter season has increased significantly in the state of Antalya, the capital of Turkish tourism, citing the activity of all tourist facilities in the “Gundu” region of the state.
Currently, about 10 percent of the tourist establishments are active in the state of Antalya, with a high rate of reservations and guests, according to Shelly.
Also, one of the main reasons for the rapid recovery of the tourism sector in Turkey is the safe tourism program, says Shelley, who also explained that the existence of this program increased the demand for tourism in the country.
Under the program launched by the Turkish government in the summer of 2020, the Ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Tourism and specialized international institutions grant hotels and tourist resorts that adhere to health and safety standards and strict preventive measures a “safe tourism certificate” to receive tourists.
For his part, Shukri Cemrin, a member of the Administrative Council of the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency, said that they spent the 2022 season successfully and positively.
He added that Turkish tourism was on its way to breaking the historic 2019 numbers, in 2020, but the emergence of the Corona epidemic stopped its growth and its continuation of its positive path, like its counterparts around the world.
Cemrin confirmed that they have entered the stage of improvement during the past year, indicating that they aim to receive 60 million tourists throughout Turkey, by the end of the current year 2023.
Jimren also expects that tourism numbers will exceed this year, what they were before the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in 2019.
He described the current year as a “year of new records” for the tourism sector in Turkey.
In the context of emphasizing his previous words, Jimren cites the rates of tourists coming to Turkey during the first month of 2023, indicating that they reached record levels.
As for Antalya alone, Cemrin said that it received 13 million tourists last year, while it aims to receive 17 million visitors this year, which is equivalent to 25 percent of the total number of tourists in Turkey.
He concluded his speech by emphasizing their intention to make Turkey a preferred destination globally for “excellent tourism at reasonable prices.”
Source: Anatolia
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