Europeans returning to Turkey with early bookings

Early bookings in the European market suggest Turkey may experience a significant increase in the number of European tourists in 2018.

Tourism professionals have claimed that European vacationers are once again looking at Turkey as many were no satisfied with the quality of service elsewhere while the perception that Turkey is a safe country has also re-emerged.

They said the Turkish industry was expecting a 30 percent increase in early bookings coming from the European market, especially from the U.K., and from families with children.

Burak Tonbul, the general manager at Thomas Cook's Turkey representative, Diana Travel, said the July 15 coup attempt and a number of terrorist attacks in the past two years, saw a drop in interest from families with children.
"However, that interest has gone up again as far as early bookings are concerned. This shows that the perception of Turkey being a safe country has also re-emerged," he said.
Tonbul said early bookings in the European market were going very well.
"If everything went as expected, there will be a 50 percent increase in the number of tourists coming from the U.K. They expected very high demands from Belgium as well.
"We expect to reach the 2015-figures in the Belgian market. The Northern European markets, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, were expected to grow by 30 percent.

"There is also mobility in the Netherlands. Even if we cannot catch 2015 figures, we will increase the figures by 10 to 15 percent compared to 2016." Tonbul said, adding that the increase in the number of tourists will also drive up the prices gradually.

Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED) Chairman, Osman Ayık said they had positive signs from Europe. Pointing out Germany as the market's major player, he said there were strong initiatives to increase the mobility in Germany.

Source: Daily Sabah

27.12.2017