Turkish hoteliers accelerate promotional activities in new markets

ISTANBUL

Turkish hoteliers have sped up promotional activities in new markets in a bid to recover their expected losses in key markets, mainly European and Russian markets.The Hotel Association of Turkey (TÜROB) said the association recently attended tourism fairs to diversify their markets in places like Latin America, South Africa and Azerbaijan, in a written statement on April 18.TÜROB Board Member and General Coordinator Kasım Zoto, who attended a sector fair in South Africa, said there was a rising attention to halal tourism in Africa, mainly in Nigeria.He noted that Turkish Airlines airplanes flying from Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in South Africa to Istanbul were always full, although a majority of these passengers are transit guests.A total of 885,000 tourists from Africa visited Turkey last year and 47,000 were from South Africa, he added.Another potential huge market is Azerbaijan, according to the association.TÜROB Board Member and Secretary General Uygar Koçaş recently attended the AITF Fair in Baku.“Azerbaijan has many commonalities with us both culturally and linguistically. Turkey has been the most visited destination for Azeri people. We have, however, seen rising economic problems in the country for the last two years, pushing them to limit their travel plans. We should also say that the recent terror attacks in Turkey have negatively affected foreigners’ travel plans to Turkey,” he said.“Turkey is still a popular destination. It is of great importance to keep making promotional campaigns, especially for Istanbul, Cappadocia and other hot touristic destinations, in Azerbaijan,” he said, adding that Turkey hosted a total of 602,000 Azeri tourists.Representatives from the association also attended the WTM Latin America Tourism Fair.They noted that Turkish TV series have been very popular in the region, especially in Argentina, making a positive contribution boosting visits to Turkey. While the number of Brazilian tourists visiting Turkey decreased by 6 percent to 85,000 last year compared to the previous year, the number of Argentinian tourists visiting Turkey increased by 86 percent to 83,000, they added.