Rıza Perçin, the President of the Mediterranean Region Representative Board of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), stated that they expect Antalya to welcome over 16.5 million tourists this year, expressing hope that 2024 will be a record-breaking year.
Perçin told AA correspondent that the reservations for 2024 are going well, and they have started the season with hopeful figures from the UK, Poland, and other European cities.
Expressing the hope for no wars, pandemics, or political issues, Perçin said, “Hopefully, we will complete this year with a figure above 16.5 million. I believe in this. Hopefully, 2024 will be a record year.”
Perçin mentioned losing the Ukrainian market this year but replacing it with Poland, which sends a similar number of tourists. He emphasized that reservations from the UK market are going very well, and the German market is also performing excellently.
Regarding the recent discussions about reconsidering the “all-inclusive” system, Rıza Perçin commented that Antalya has implemented the best “all-inclusive” system and emphasized that such a system cannot be changed suddenly.
“Just as a football team has a culture and system that cannot be changed suddenly, in Antalya, we cannot change the ‘all-inclusive’ system. If we say that nearly 17 million tourists will come, we are sure that 70% to 80% of them come for this system. We are the best at it. Therefore, I do not believe it will change in the short term. It shouldn’t change, anyway. There shouldn’t be such a reform. But can it be tried in the long run? It can be tried,” Perçin stated.
Antalya set an all-time record last year by hosting 15,689,258 foreign tourists.
source: aa.com.tr/ prepared by Melisa Beğiç