Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) Board Member and Press Spokesperson Erkan Yagci stated that “Safe Tourism Certification Program” paves the way for tourists to prefer Turkey during their holidays.
Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) was established under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to develop and promote Turkey’s tourism values. TGA has accomplished many important works in 2020, which was a very difficult year.
TGA Board Member and Press Spokesperson Erkan Yagci, whose opinions were given in the statement, stated that despite the fact that most of the last year was spent under epidemic conditions and the borders with many countries were closed for a long time, they continued to work as TGA without slowing down.
Yagci stated that the Safe Tourism Certificate application, which is among the firsts in the world, thanks to the innovative and effective digital campaigns that differentiate Turkey and some very special global events they have personally or participated in, they have completed this challenging year with good results. And he added saying, “Despite the pandemic conditions, we reached 16 million visitors in 2020. We are ready for 2021. We will continue to introduce our country’s tourism values to billions with new generation studies.”
“We set an example to the world with our Safe Tourism Certificate”
Erkan Yagci stated that the biggest innovation for the Turkish tourism sector in 2020 is the Safe Tourism Certificate prepared under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and with the contributions of the sector representatives.
“The certificate program, which our Ministry prepared in a very short time and became one of the firsts in the world, made the tourism ecosystem suitable for the conditions of combating pandemics in a wide range from accommodation facilities to transportation vehicles, from staff to food and beverage and other common areas.
The program, which allows visitors to spend their holidays safely in certified facilities, was also supported by a series of insurance solutions initiated by our ministry and paved the way for tourists to prefer Turkey for their holidays. As TGA, we, first of all, explained the program to our foreign mission ambassadors in our country with a special organization in Antalya and then carrying out customized, new, different, and innovative promotional activities in accordance with the dynamics of that country in each of our target markets. By doing that, we ensured that a large number of tourists choose Turkey and spend their holidays safely. We set an example to the world with the Safe Tourism Certificate.”
“We always kept the tourism brand perception of Turkey up with global events”
Yagci reminded that Turkey hosted some very important global events in 2020 and that TGA firstly sponsored the Marmaris leg of the World Rally Championship WRC, one of the most important motor sports events in the world, in September.
Erkan Yagci continued his words as follows:
“We have always kept the tourism brand perception of Turkey up with global events. The biggest sports event of the past year was undoubtedly the Formula 1 Istanbul Grand Prix that we hosted again after a 9-year hiatus. As TGA, we introduced our country in this event, which has been watched live by billions of sports fans in hundreds of countries and has been talked about for weeks on digital platforms.
Thanks to the Istanbul Grand Prix, the most exciting race of the year, we made our country’s tourism brand promotion platform GoTurkiye.com visible in all major markets of the world, from Brazil to Japan. TGA, which has also signed some very important media collaborations in 2020, organized the first in-flight performance on a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, in cooperation with the world-famous electronic music organization Cercle. The magical geography of Cappadocia met with electronic music sounds in this concert, which was broadcast all over the world on a live broadcast.
TGA, which also hosts productions that will take place in many global channels throughout the year, also organized a comprehensive opening program for the opening of the new building of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra CSO, which was completed under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the end of the year.
During the pandemic process, Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency, which did not stop its support for culture and art, hosted the 3rd 212 Photography Istanbul exhibition this year, which was attended by the world’s most important photographers. Also, TGA hosted Seb-i Arus ceremonies held in Konya since 1937 on the death anniversary of Mevlânâ Celaleddin-i Rumi.”
“In 2020, we continued our communication campaigns without slowing down”
Yagci stated that crisis periods can create an opportunity to differentiate in communication and come to the fore, and that TGA experienced exactly this in 2020, continued their communication campaigns without slowing down, and that they were taken as an example by many competitors with highly innovative works.
He stated that at the beginning of the epidemic process, they had a serious opportunity to differentiate with the campaigns such as “Turkish Therapy”, “Together Today” and “Colors Returkey”, which they commissioned on social media. And added saying, “With the announcement of 2020 as the Year of Patara, we have implemented a special movie, a very special logo, and corporate identity work for Patara. Within the scope of 28 events we have organized, we hosted more than 300 sector representatives, press members, and influencers from many countries in Turkey to experience the Safe Tourism program in Patara. We hosted world-renowned stars at the ‘Patara Year Concert’, which we held with the participation of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, and thanks to the events, we increased the awareness of both Patara and the Safe Tourism Certificate worldwide. “
“We were the first to prepare for 2021 with our early reservation and gastronomy promotional films”
Yagci stated that they have organized TV campaigns in 17 countries, but they have realized the main growth in digital, signed 64 different campaigns in 82 countries and achieved 1.5 billion views with close to 7.7 billion views. We renewed our country’s main promotion platform ‘goturkey.com’ with a highly innovative architecture, and we have attained an infrastructure that will allow us to process guest data and organize customized campaigns, as well as promotion for 81 provinces and differentiated product groups.”
Stating that they hosted more than 1000 opinion leaders and press members from 35 countries in a total of 96 events in 2020 within the scope of communication activities, Yagci said, “We have reached approximately 9 billion access figures by participating in a total of 1,800 publications in Turkey’s tourism promotion with PR activities.”
He stated that they are trying to promote different tourism types and beautiful destinations in Turkey in the best way, with a total of 277 magazine content studies, 154 of which are advertisements and 123 of which are advertorials, in 8 countries last year, and noted that they prepared for 2021 with early booking and gastronomy promotional films.
Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz