It’s been another good week for Turkey tourism. Thomas Cook is allowing electronic devices in hand luggage again, 2018 is declared ‘Turkey Tourism Year’ in China with over 1 million Chinese visitors expected, the Tourism Ministry announce they are diversifying the tourism market in an attempt to attract 50 million tourists by 2023, Turkey wins a running gold in London and the number of Turkish tourists to popular resorts along the coast leaves streets, beaches and towns busy and the roads filled with out of town number plates.
Thomas Cook Lifts Laptop Ban (Independent August 9th, 2017)
Following security assessments, Thomas Cook has become the first UK flight company to allow electronic devices in their cabins again on their flights from Turkey to the UK. This is welcome news for the many passengers flying from the likes of Dalaman and Antalya Airports that rely on the likes of tablets and e-readers to keep themselves and their kids entertained on the trip. Turkey was one of six countries where the ban was imposed, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia were also affected. We reported bans with Turkish Airlines and Pegasus had been lifted earlier in the month but the ban had continued with British carriers until now. The Independent quote a spokesperson from Thomas Cook saying, “Following a review by the UK Government and the introduction of new security measures, customers flying from Turkey on Thomas Cook Airlines will now be able to carry laptops, tablets and e-readers in hand luggage. The new security measures include additional screening at the gate so please arrive promptly when your flight is called to allow sufficient time to board.”
2018 declared “Turkey Tourism Year” in China (Hurriyet Daily News August 10th 2017)
The Hurriyet ran a piece yesterday on how Turkey is gearing up to host up to 1 million Chinese tourists and is announcing next year as “Turkey Year”. According to the report, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the likes of Istanbul, Pamukkale and Cappadocia has soared since 2011. In the first five months of this year, 81,000 Chinese holidaymakers visited Turkey. They quote Murat Sen, Head of Denizli Touristic Hoteliers Association, “our aim is to host 300,000 Chinese travellers this year.” Sen goes on to suggest that if Turkey hopes to achieve the 1 million Chinese tourist target, the country needs to run more marketing campaigns and attend tourism fairs in China. The Chinese love Turkey but are not traditional sun worshippers or sea goers, they tend to visit a handful of places during their stay as others are not publicised. More marketing is needed to broaden their horizons and encourage Chinese nationals to explore the areas and destinations in Turkey.
Tourism in Turkey set to diversify in order to hit 2023 targets (Anadolu Agency, August 9th, 2017)
To reach Turkeys ambitious $50 billion annual tourism income target by 2023, the country needs to diversify its tourism believes Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister.
Speaking to reporters from Anadolu News Agency last Wednesday, he suggested that expanding the countries tourism sector to attract more Indian, Chinese and Japanese is necessary. This alongside efforts already in place to attract more Germans, Russians and Europeans. He also believes that winter and eco-tourism should be pushed to attract more visitors to Turkey.
Turk wins gold in London for the 200m running and is congratulated by President Erdogan on Twitter (Anadolu Agency, 11th August 2017)
Ramil Guliyev surprised spectators yesterday winning Turkey’s first Gold medal in the men’s 200 meters at the London World Championships. Guliyev pipped South African favourite Wayne Van Niekerk to the post, finishing in an impressive 20.09 seconds. According to Anadolu News Agency, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the first to congratulate the runner on Twitter saying, “I am heartily congratulating Ramil Guliyev, who made us all proud by winning the World Athletics Championships in the men’s 200m gold final”. Let’s hope he can bring home gold in the next Olympics.
Turks head to the coast for their summer holidays
Every year we see an influx of out of town number plates as Turkish tourists hit the roads around resorts along the coast. Here in Fethiye, the road down to Oludeniz was packed from mid-morning yesterday as out of town Turks travelled from their B&Bs, hotels and villas locally down to the beach for a day at the bay. It’s great to see so local bed and breakfasts and family hotels fully booked and see the streets once again alive of an evening as families walk along the front eating ice-creams and taking in the surroundings alongside the foreigner visitors. The roads are sure to get even busier in the coming weeks as we get closer to the Byram holiday at the end of the month.
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