Resort town Antalya reaches 2019 tourist numbers

ANTALYA - Demirören News Agency

Antalya, Türkiye’s major holiday destination, is benefitting from a revival in tourism activity, as the number of foreign tourists visiting the province has reached the 2019 level in the first seven months of the year.

More than 7 million foreign tourists have visited the province since the start of the year. All hotels in Antalya are fully booked for August and mid-September, according to people from the industry.

Each day between 80,000 to 90,000 foreign tourists arrive in the province, said Recep Yavuz, owner of a tour operator, noting that demand is strong from Europe and Russia, as well as the Scandinavian and Middle Eastern countries.

“Germany takes the lead, especially with the start of the holidays in Europe, but countries such as England, Poland and Romania have left their mark on the last two months and the number of tourists from Russia is also expected to soar 2 million,” Yavuz said.

There are intense flows from nearly 50 countries and the market diversification has increased a lot, said Yavuz, adding that the demand which cannot be met due to the density in many hotels are being directed to the Aegean coasts.

With the COVID-19 not affecting life as before, the density in the Mediterranean has increased significantly, with Antalya being the most important destination, according to Yavuz.

“This intensity will continue until mid-November, albeit gradually decreasing after September. I hope we will be able to ensure a healthy distribution of tourists starting from spring next year,” Yavuz said, claiming that there isn’t any other holiday destination in Europe that receive 90,000 tourists a day.

“Our hotels are fully booked until mid-September,” said İsmail Çağlar, the head of a hotel in the region, adding that it was clear from the beginning of the year that there would be a heavy flow.

Although the problems arising from the war in Ukraine were resolved, we have turned to alternative markets such as Israel and the Middle East, from where there were serious flows, said Çağlar.

Noting that these alternative markets caused a capacity problem in the hotels, Çağlar said, “Even though the main sources of tourists had been England, Germany and Russia for years, we host an equal number of guests from almost every country this year.”

It is expected that the European market will gain importance after September and the visits will continue until mid-November, according to Çağlar.