DRMumbai: Tourism is the principal driver of Turkey’s economy with a significant share of its gross domestic product (GDP) coming from the sector. Turkey is bouncing back after some challenging years, offering great ‘value for money’ holidays in picturesque resorts dotting the Mediterranean. Turkey’s rich multi-cultural heritage, beautiful beaches, high quality hotels and last but not the least, Turkish food, one of the greatest cuisines of the world, add to the charm.
Turkey’s rich multi-cultural heritage, beautiful beaches, high quality hotels and last but not the least, Turkish food, one of the greatest cuisines of the world, add to the charm
Following a sharp decline in the number of visitors in 2016, a year that included a series of terrorist attacks and a failed coup, Turkey’s tourism industry recovered in 2017 with a continuous rise in the number of foreign tourists coming to the country.The number of foreigners visiting Turkey touched 32 million, up by over 27 percent when compared to the same period the previous year, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry. With 36 million foreign tourist arrivals, 2014 was the year when Turkey had the highest number of visitors. In 2018, Turkey hopes to reach that number, again.
Russians led the way with more than 4.65 million people coming to Turkey in the first 11 months of 2017, followed by Germans at around 3.5 million and Iranians at more than 3.3 million. Trade sources report that early reservations from Russia and Europe are fairly strong for the summer of 2018. Plus an average of 2.5 million British tourists arrive in Turkey annually.
“In 2018, we want more visitors from India,” says Nuray Topuz, Culture and Tourism Expert, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey. “Over 22 million Indians travelled to foreign destinations in 2017 but only 1,00,000 visited Turkey. We want one million Indians to visit us every year.”
Turkey is a very accessible country right at the cross roads of Asia and Europe with direct flights to hundreds of destinations worldwide. “We are focussing on MICE, Weddings & Honeymooners, Culture and Golf Tourism in 2018,” informs Topuz.
Looking back at the past two years, Turkey has had four major developments: The crisis with Russia, elections in Europe where racism and Islamophobia drove hostility towards Turkey, serious terror threats both on the home front and abroad, and finally the July 2016 military coup attempt. These were all serious challenges that Turkey has had to overcome in a short period of time. The number of tourists visiting Turkey fell to 24 million in 2016 but rose to 32 million in 2017. So, the country’s tourism sector has indeed bounced back with resilience.
Meanwhile, Turkey initiated a third phase in tourism marketing based on the strategy of opening to new markets and diversifying products, from health tourism to faith tourism, from winter tourism to congress tourism. “While strengthening our positive image in traditional markets, we are opening new doors, especially in the Far East with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia,” says Topuz.
But the continuation of the state of emergency and the controversies around emergency decree laws, has led to serious doubts about safety and security of tourists. “It is a wrong perception,” assures Topuz. “The state of emergency does not affect foreign tourists or the common man. You cannot see any armed forces personnel on the streets. Trust me, there are no visible signs of the state of emergency that could scare foreign tourists.”
