Tourist numbers up with chaos in Egypt

İZMİR - Anadolu Agency

Around 10 percent of the foreign tourists who do not choose Egypt or somewhere else are now coming to Turkey, Spain, Italy, France and Greece. DHA photo

The resort hotels in the western and southern Anatolia have reached full occupancy, as well as a significant rise in domestic tourists due to a 9-day holiday of the Feast of Sacrifice, tourism representatives said. 

According to the tourism professionals, Turkey’s tourism season may last until the end of November. 
“Many foreign tourists, especially European tourists, have shown great interest in Turkey for vacationing as of August. Turkey’s tourism season has extended to the end of November, as many foreign tourists see Turkey as a safe haven amid social and political turmoil in Egypt or others,” said Turkey’s Hoteliers Federation Osman Ayık. 

Turkey has accelerated its promotional activities in tourism during these last years. 

“This is real plus for the tourism sector. In addition to the positive effects of these activities, we have seen many Russian, German and British tourists showing a great interest in Turkey for vacations, as they do not prefer going to Egypt or elsewhere in the region due to the chaotic environment there,” he said. 

Foreign tourists who do prefer Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon or Syria right now have started to show a great interest in safer countries in the Mediterranean, said the Tour Operators’ Spokesperson Cem Polatoğlu. 

“Around 10 percent of the foreign tourists who do not prefer Egypt or somewhere else are now coming to Turkey and Turkey is ranked fifth or sixth in luring those tourists after Spain, Italy, France and Greece,” he said. 

Most hotels rooms booked until November

Many resort hotels have reached full capacity rates until Oct. 20, mainly due to the 9-day long Feast of the Sacrifice holiday, but most of these hotels have already faced high reservations until the end of November. 

Most of the domestic tourists preferred resort hotels during the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday, sector representatives said. 

Over 1 million people were expected to take a vacation in Turkey and approximately 250,000 people were expected to go abroad during the 9-day long holiday. 

The Turkish Cabinet has extended the four-day Eid al-Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice, holiday running between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18 to nine days by declaring one more day off on Oct. 14 for public workers, allowing them to include the bookending weekends as part of their holiday. 

The most preferred domestic tourism spot became the Mediterranean city of Antalya, followed by the Aegean provinces of Bodrum and Marmaris.