More than half of the foreign tourists who took a vacation in Mugla, one of Turkiye’s favorite tourism centers, during the 5 months of this year were British.
Drawing attention with its natural beauties and ancient cities, Mugla with a bed capacity of 350 thousand hosts many local and foreign guests this year.
Among the tourists who prefer the region with famous destinations such as Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye, the British are again in the first place.
Culture and Tourism Provincial Director Huseyin Toprak told Anadolu Agency (AA) that tourists from many countries come to the city.
Indicating that the guests were hosted in the best way, Toprak said, “The number of tourists who came to the city during the period of 1 January-31 May reached 585 thousand 108. 306 thousand 312 of them were British. England is a main market for Mugla and Turkiye. After the UK, the highest number of tourists is Russia with 50 thousand 364 people, Poland with 37 thousand 405 people, Germany with 29 thousand 702 people, the Netherlands with 19 thousand 17 people and tourists from other countries with 142 thousand 308 people.”
Toprak stated that they expect the increase in the number of foreign tourists to continue in the coming months.
Emphasizing that Mugla, one of the favorite tourism centers of Turkiye, hosted approximately 3 million tourists last year, Toprak said that due to the Eid al-Adha, the occupancy rates in hotels are increasing day by day and accommodation facilities will be full during the holiday.
Mugla without England is unthinkable
Bulent Bulbuloglu, Vice President of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED), said that the UK is one of the largest sourcing markets for Mugla and Turkiye.
Emphasizing that the market that dominates Bodrum, Fethiye and Marmaris is England, Bulbuloglu said, “Mugla without England is unthinkable. Dalaman region seems to be the most popular tourism region in England. There is no hotel in Marmaris that the British did not enter. 70-75% of each hotel consists of British guests. Therefore, the British guests and Marmaris overlapped with each other. For 20 years, this situation has been growing.”
Noting that all tour operators in England have a special interest in Marmaris, Bulbuloglu noted that most of them fly to Dalaman and their preference is Marmaris.
Pointing out that Marmaris was opened for sale in the British market for 2024, Bulbuloglu said, “We are taking reservations for 2024. We see from the numbers that 60% of the tourists are British. Most of them come to Marmaris. It is the most important market for us. We will add March and November to the season. I wish that 12 months were the days when the British came. All stakeholders are working for this.”
Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TURSAB) Marmaris Regional Representative Board Chairman Suat Esin noted that if there are no British people in Mugla and Marmaris, tourism will suffer.
Explaining that most of the tourists from England prefer Marmaris, Esin said:
“We made a good start to tourism, but the earthquake and the election affected tourism. Tourists came, but the income could not be achieved at the same rate. There was a decrease in expenditures. England is our biggest market. We need to diversify the market. As TURSAB, we are working on this. Our expectations are quite high.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz