DRMumbai: The Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India conducted a roadshow and destination workshop in six cities across India in October. Held in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai, the aim of the roadshow was to educate stakeholders, agents, policy makers and travellers in these cities on current tourism offerings of Turkey and create more awareness on the destination. The roadshow also helped to position Turkey as a leisure, wedding and MICE destination amongst Indian travellers. “We will definitely cross our target of 40 million tourists in 2018,” says H Deniz Ersöz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Culture and Tourism Office at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in India. “But we will not be able to achieve the revenue target of $40 billion this year. I think it will be around $33 billion.”
India is a very important market for Turkey and the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India is well aware of the potential it holds in terms of inbound visitor traffic to their nation.
In 2017, Turkey hosted more than 32 million international tourists while from India the number was 87,000. This year, from January to July, Turkey recorded a 25 per cent increase in the number of overall tourists while India registered a whopping 95 per cent increase for the same period. If this trend continues, almost 2 lakh Indian tourists would have visited Turkey by the end of 2018.
The new Istanbul airport will be inaugurated on October 29 (Turkey National Day). It can handle 200 million passengers a year and will be one of the biggest airports in Europe. According to Turkey’s New Economic Program (NEP) announced recently, India and China are focus markets for tourism. “We are working in sync with NEP goals by organizing roadshows, trade promotions, and FAM trips for wedding planners and MICE organisers covering Istanbul, Antalya, Cappadocia, Bodrum, Kusadasi and Marmaris,” adds Ersöz.
The number of Indian tourist arrivals, Indian destination weddings and MICE engagements is increasing steadily. Hotels and resorts in Turkey are witnessing a significant surge in tourist arrivals from India.
Thirty trade partners from Turkey including DMCs and hotels participated in the roadshow and this was made possible by Murtaza Kalender, Managing Director, Murti’s Tour TravelShopTurkey, one of the biggest DMCs of the region. Kalender is organizing a B2B Luxury MICE Workshop in Istanbul from November 18-21.
“Turkey is one of the best destinations for weddings. We have many 5-star luxury hotels by the beach each with 500 plus rooms,” says Kalender. “The best part is that Turkey offers all inclusive packages covering Indian food, liquor, accommodation, sight seeing and entertainment. There are no extras and the rates are very reasonable.”
The B2B Luxury MICE Worksop in November will have 200 registered delegates of which 50 will be from India. This is a clear indication of the enhanced interest and demand for weddings and MICE originating from the Indian market.
Turkey has hosted 12 Indian weddings till now in 2018. “By the end of the year we would have facilitated more than 15. By 2020 we hope to be able to host 50 weddings a year,” says Komal Seth, Director, Linkin Reps, the agency managing marketing and PR for Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India. The travel trade in Turkey has learnt the minute details of Indian weddings. “They understand the way we organise our weddings, the grandeur, last minute changes, how demanding we are, and they are very accommodating,” adds Seth.
The Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India is planning to launch an online training program covering destinations, safety, new hotels and all inclusive packages by December 2018 or January next year.
