AKDENIZ Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association (AKTOB) President Kaan Kavaloğlu said that Antalya has exceeded the number of 16 million tourists as of the end of October and that 17 million will be reached by the end of the year. AKTOB President Kaan Kavaloğlu stated that Antalya exceeded the number of 16 million tourists as of the end of October and noted that there was an increase of approximately 8 percent compared to last year. Reminding that they have a target of 17 million tourists as tourists this year, Kavaloğlu said, “We expect over 500 thousand tourists in November. Approximately 350-400 thousand will hopefully arrive in December. When transit passengers are counted, it will reach 17 million people. We have to produce an additional 1 million people every year. Therefore, our target for 2025 should be 18 million.” POLAND AND ROMANIA ARE SURPRISE MARKETS Pointing out that Russia and Germany are two very important main markets for Antalya tourism, Kaan Kavaloğlu listed other important markets as countries such as the UK, Poland, Romania, Belgium and the Netherlands. Stating that the UK exceeded 1.5 million with an increase of 25 percent, Kavaloğlu said, “Poland and Romania are the surprise markets of this year. Poland exceeded 1 million people. Romania also gained a very serious momentum in last-minute bookings, especially after being able to enter with an ID card.” ‘WE WENT THROUGH THE RECOVERY PROCESS AFTER THE PANDEMIC VERY QUICKLY’ Ali Kızıldağ, general manager of a 5-star hotel, stated that there were high occupancies in hotels in October-November and said, ”Good, the numbers are good. Revenues are good, we are very happy. Antalya is full of records. We passed the recovery period after the pandemic very quickly. In the process after that, we have come to these days in a pleasing way by doubling it every year. Of course, there is an incredible effort of the public, private sector, non-governmental organizations and local administrations in this. From now on, everyone in Antalya, from seven to seventy, has taken the tourism culture, the love of tourism and the understanding of service for granted and accepted it. Although we have survived so many crises, we recovered very quickly compared to other cities and destinations in the world and we are increasing our figures with an incredible momentum.” Ali Kızıldağ said, “We are in an Antalya where we talk about more than 20 billion dollars in revenue. It is an incredible success story both in terms of the added value it creates for Turkey and in terms of the opportunities and contributions it has provided to this world paradise Antalya. We should congratulate everyone who has contributed to this story. Because we have had a very good, very successful season. The figures are very pleasing in terms of income, in terms of incoming tourists. Even if we cannot say that the cash flows are very satisfactory, especially in the accommodation sector and cash flows with the stagnation of exchange rates and high inflation pressure, we can say that it was a satisfactory year in terms of both the number of tourists, expenditures and tourism income.”
Source: DHA
