Kaan Kavaloglu, President of the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association, stated that reservations in tourism have started well for 2024 and said, “The first reservations come from the British market, the next from Germany. We see a 20% increase in early reservations compared to 2023.”
Kavaloglu stated that sustainability in tourism is the main issue of the whole world and said that 800 million people live in the geography close to Turkiye, within a four-hour flight distance.
Mentioning that Turkiye is the first country to make an agreement with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) for sustainable tourism, Kavaloglu said:
“Climate change is a very serious problem for us. We know that this poses a serious risk and we want to raise awareness of this. As tourism professionals and hoteliers, we are aware of this. There is a sustainable tourism certificate program. All our hotels were included in the first stage of this certification program. Work on the second and third stages continues. Many hotels have completed all three stages. They completely became the owner of this certificate. Thousands of our hotels, which understand the importance of this issue, have worked hard and received certification.”
Emphasizing that the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency uses this effectively in marketing, Kavaloglu stated that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has put forward a serious vision on sustainable tourism.
“Poland became our fourth source market”
Stating that tourism professionals are also followers of this vision, Kavaloglu said, “We have a target of 100 million guests and $100 billion of income in the near future. We have almost reached this year’s target of 60 million tourists and $56 billion of income. In this sense, Antalya surpassed 2019, the record year in tourism, by hosting more than 15 million tourists.”
Reminding that Russia and Germany are the main source markets, Kavaloglu said that the number of tourists from England exceeded 1 million for the first time last year.
Pointing out that the number of British tourists will exceed 1.5 million this year, Kavaloglu said, “The Polish market has exceeded 1 million tourists and become a very serious market source. Poland has become our fourth source market. We have a serious market loss due to the continuing war in the Ukrainian market.”
“We see a 20% increase in early bookings compared to 2023”
Kavaloglu stated that they started working for a better season and continued as follows:
“We went to the WTM 2022 (World Travel Market) International Tourism Fair held in London, the capital of England, where we received the first data of marketing activities. It will be the year of Turkiye and Antalya in tourism. Reservations have started well for 2024. The first reservations come from the British market, then from Germany. We see a 20% increase in early bookings compared to 2023. We need to ensure its continuity. We follow the developments in the nearby geography. A world tourism without Turkiye and Antalya is unthinkable.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz