The Turkish Indian Tourism Council & Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey has successfully conducted its six-city “Destination Turkey” roadshow across India, from February 26 to March 2. The roadshow started from Delhi and followed by Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and Mumbai. Top Travel agents, stakeholders, Policymakers, Indigo Airlines, and Gateway/VFS attended the roadshow in these cities where the Turkish delegates acquainted them with other partners from Turkey and organized an informative sessions with guests. The DMCs, Hotels interacted with the agents and shared insights on how to promote Turkey as a destination.
According to the Euromonitor International’s city arrival report, Istanbul and Antalya have been listed among the “Top 5 cities in Europe” in terms of the international tourist arrivals in 2018. In 2018, Istanbul hosted more than 12 million International tourists whereas Antalya hosted almost 13 million tourists. According to the said report, Antalya and Istanbul ranked 3rd and 5th respectively in Europe.
“The direct air connectivity between the countries plays an important role for enhancing mutual touristic flow. We are very happy to welcome the Indigo airline’s initiative to start flying to Istanbul from Delhi with non-stop flights. We have seen a huge number of increases in traffic to Turkey in the last two years and out of which we have observed a 70% increase from India to Turkey in 2018 compared with 2017. We are very glad that Indian citizens will now have a choice of traveling to Turkey with a low budget airline company. Turkey and India both will be benefited from the mutual growth of tourists” said Deniz Ersoz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India.
Turkey has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, culture, and commerce and it is imperative that the scope of engagement between both countries should now be taken to the second level. The number of Indian tourist arrivals, Indian weddings in Turkey and MICE engagements is increasing steadily which is a good sign. The hotels and resorts in Turkey are witnessing a significant surge in tourist arrivals. The heavy turnout at beach hotels and resorts has exceeded expectations.
