Over 1 mln Turks flock to touristic destinations during long public holiday

ANTALYA/MUĞLA

AA photo

Nearly 1 million Turkish people went on holiday during a 10-day public holiday, which started late on Aug. 25 and ended on Sept. 3, creating more than 1 billion Turkish Liras ($292 million) of tourism revenue, according to tourism players. 

Hotel occupancy rates hit 100 percent in many tourism resorts. 

The head of the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) said the most popular domestic destinations were the districts of Side, Alanya, Manavgat, Belek and Kemer in the Mediterranean resort province of Antalya and the Aegean districts of Çeşme, Bodrum, Marmaris, Kuşadası, Didim and Fethiye. 

TÜRSAB President Başaran Ulusoy noted that Turks also flocked to Greek islands, Balkan countries, Italy, Spain and Central Europe. 

“More than 1 million people took their vacation during the 10-day public holiday. This trend created a 1 billion lira tourism revenue,” he said, as quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency on Sept. 6. 

He also noted that there was a considerable revival trend in foreign arrivals into the country as well. 

In the first seven months of the year, nearly 17.3 million foreigners visited Turkey with a 22 percent year-on-year increase, he added. 

“In July, we saw a 46.4 percent year-on-year increase in the number of foreign arrivals. A strong recovery in the Russian market played a key role here in addition to some others, including Iraq, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Even if the number of arrivals from European countries continued to decline in the January-July period, we need to wait until the yearend to see the final situation,” Ulusoy said, adding that some upward trend might be the case in this crucial market. 

The Eid al-Adha holiday was extended to 10 days in Turkey this year, coinciding with the Aug. 30 Victory Day national commemoration.