Turkey’s tourism sector is expected to make a good recovery this year on the back of rising popularity of some key Turkish cities and government initiatives.
Ahmet Barut, Head of the Turkey Hotels Federations (TÜROFED), has expressed the hope that Turkish tourism industry is likely to overcome the effects of global economic crunch in 2010 and has anticipated it to grow at 3-4%, reported
Hurriyet Daily News on February 9, 2010.
The target which seems most realistic for the current year is a total tourist inflow of 28 Million and a currency intake of $22.5 Billion. It is quite clear that the Turkish tourism industry will override the impacts of financial turmoil in 2010. In fact, the industry continued thriving even in 2009, when the effects of recession were most prominent, although its speed was less as compared to the previous years. The industry earned a total of $21 Billion in 2009 with the number of tourists visiting Turkey amounting to 27 Million.
According to a market research report titled “
Turkey Tourism Industry Forecast to 2012” by
RNCOS, tourist arrivals in Turkey will witness growth at a CAGR of 7.61% in the coming two years, and this strong performance will be mainly attributed to the government efforts.
Popularity of some of the major Turkish cities is expected to be one of the important growth factors for the country’s tourism industry in 2010. For instance, Antalya, which is situated on the country’s south western Mediterranean coast and hosts several film and music festivals all round the year, is a popular tourist destination.
Antalya witnessed a substantial growth in the number of tourists in January 2010, fuelling the hopes for record number of tourists this year. Besides, the tourist arrivals in Antalya Airport exceeded 140,000 in January 2010, up 31% as compared to January 2009. Therefore, with impressively increasing tourist market, Antalya is expected to draw higher number of tourists for the entire year (2010).
Apart from this, Turkey’s low-cost in comparison to rest of its European counterparts and high-value of euro against the US dollar will appeal the tourists. Availability of direct charter flights connecting major European cities to the leading resorts of Turkey and all-inclusive travel packages will also play a significant role in the success of the country’s tourism industry.
According to a Research Analyst at
RNCOS, “It is extremely crucial for Turkey to implement a well-planned and extensive advertising policy so as to draw more investment as well as to raise the quality of tourism facilities. However, instead of a fragmented one, this policy should be centralized.”
Related Market Research Reports:
China Tourism Industry Forecast to 2012
Malaysian Tourism Industry Forecast to 2012
Vietnam Tourism Industry Forecast to 2012 
