The Middle East accounted for the highest growth in Turkey’s tourist arrivals in 2009, a cultural and information attaché has told TTN Worldwide, a publication on travel and tourism in the Middle East.

Last year was a very successful year for Turkey, according to Emin Kaya, cultural and information attaché at the Turkish Consulate Cultural and Information Office in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, or UAE.

“Until November 2009, we witnessed an average 20 percent increase in tourist arrivals from the region alone, most originating from the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait – totaling about 100,000 tourists, not including the expatriate population,” Kaya said. “We receive a similar number of arrivals from the expatriate population living in the region.”

Besides the Middle East, the other three major markets are Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. “Looking ahead to 2010, we expect at least a 40 percent increase in arrivals from the region,” Kaya said. “We believe that the Middle East holds a lot of potential and, when compared to the other markets such as Germany or Iran, there is still a lot of opportunity for growth.”

Marketing programs

A market survey conducted two years ago revealed that there is high awareness of Turkey as a country in the region, but not enough about it as a destination point, TTN Worldwide reported, citing Kaya. This has led to the creation of destination-based awareness programs.

“We now choose two new destinations each year to educate the travel trade on what they can expect from these places,” Kaya said. “Even with Antalya, currently the most visited city in Turkey, receiving almost 9 million tourists every year, there are many agents out there who are not aware of this destination.”

Plans for this year include familiarization trips and destination promotion through TV channels. For the first time, Turkey has its own country pavilion at the Global Village in Dubai, which “besides giving people insight on the country’s products, will have a cultural center to guide tourists keen to visit Turkey,” said Kaya.

Until three years ago, Middle Eastern travelers were aware of three destinations in Turkey – Istanbul, Bursa and the Yalova region, he said, adding that as of 2009, tourists have been willing to explore newer destinations such as Antalya, Bodrum and the Black Sea region.

“In 2009, 80 percent of those who visited the region were from Arab countries,” Kaya said. “Our partner, Emirates Holidays, now promotes hotels in this region showing its fast-growing popularity.”

“In a city like Antalya, there are 1,000 hotels, of which 300 are five-star properties and five seven-star hotels. So we have hotels to cater to all kinds of needs and demands,” he said, adding that Turkey’s easy accessibility, good weather and similar food tastes also contribute to the growth in arrivals from the Middle East.

Kaya also unveiled a plan to introduce product-based promotions, TTN Worldwide reported. “We have been very successful with our destination-based promotions and this year we will introduce product-based promotions such as medical tourism, golf tourism and winter tourism,” he said. “We want to send professionals from the region to show our resources and the hotels available and educate our sellers.”

“Last November, we received a 423-percent increase in arrivals from the region, which again shows that we have a market to develop and need to look beyond the traditional peak season,” he added.

Tourism officials hope to make Turkey a year-round destination. To that end, Kaya said, “Winter sports and golf are new areas that will bring tourists with high income and groups interested in culture to Turkey.”

Commenting on airline traffic, he added: “We have more regional airlines flying to Istanbul, with Etihad launching flights last year and Air Arabia increasing frequencies to four times a week. In 2010, maybe flydubai will launch new flights too, giving us an opportunity to increase numbers dramatically.”

Commenting on the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture activities, Kaya said: “The government has established an association with hundreds of planned activities throughout the world and we are planning to conduct ‘cultural days’ sometime in April or May when we will have exhibitions and activities to promote Turkish products. There will be more than 200 projects all over the world.”