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(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Turkey has embarked on a major campaign to attract more tourists and investors from the Gulf countries this year, a senior Turkish tourism official said on Thursday.
Already, Turkey has been recording a big surge in tourist arrivals from the Gulf over the past several years. In 2009, despite the global financial crisis that had hit the tourism industry worldwide, the number of tourists arriving in Turkey from the Gulf countries surged by 16.45 per cent.
Turkey also registered a rise in total tourist traffic in 2009 with a total of 27 million tourists from around the world visiting country, an increase of 2.8 per cent compared to tourist arrivals in 2008.
Emin Kaya, Turkish Cultural and Information Attache in Dubai and Turkish Tourism Office Manager in UAE, said tourist traffic to Turkey from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recorded a steep increase with visitors from Kuwait increasing by 21.36 per cent, followed by tourists from the UAE — up by 12.07 per cent. Tourist traffic from Bahrain rose 12.49 per cent, Saudi Arabia by 20.31 per cent, and Qatar by 0.82 per cent.
Kaya said he expected to see this year a sustained growt in tourist flow to Turkey from the Gulf region because of the rich cultural and touristic attractions that Turkey has on offer for Arabs, especially the GCC citizens.
"Our marketing and promotional strategies during 2010 will include various activities and events to prompt more tourists to choose Turkey for their next holiday plans. Heritage and cultural exhibitions, familiarisation trips, participation at Arab Travel Market Dubai, and musical concerts and dance shows in the GCC countries are part of a strategy to create awareness about Turkey's myriad attractions as an interesting tourist destination," said Kaya.
The Turkish government has launched a long-term plan that aims to promote health and medical tourism, Kaya said. "The government plans to attract more Arab tourists, particularly holiday-makers from the GCC while projecting Turkey as a fascinating health and medical destination," he said.
He said Turkish government has on offer a number of investment opportunities in medical and health tourism. Turkish and foreign investors can explore these opportunities to build health centres and spas near natural and thermal springs. According to official statistics, over 200 health and spa centers will be built as per this plan, Kaya said.
Apart from being a destination for recreation and rejuvenation only, Turkey offers advanced me, he said. Recently, Istanbul was officially selected to be the 2010 European Capital of Culture.
Issac John
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