Tourists flock to Antalya during Easter holiday

ANTALYA

Foreign tourists have flocked to the Turkish province of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast to spend their Easter holiday.

In April 2020, only 905 holidaymakers arrived in the tourist hotspot, but in the first two weeks of this month alone, Antalya already welcomed 300,000 travelers, up from 178,000 visitors in the whole of April last year.

Apparently, Europeans, who could not go on vacation during the Easter holiday in the past two years due to the COVID-19-related travel restrictions, are now flocking to the Mediterranean coasts, said Recep Yavuz from the Antalya City Council’s Tourism Working Group.

“During the Easter holiday, people are vacationing in Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Greece. This inflow of tourists provides a lifeline to Antalya,” he added.

Easter is one of the major holidays in Europe, Yavuz stressed.

“We are expecting the tourist inflow to continue throughout April and the number of holidaymakers visiting Antalya may reach 600,000 this month,” he said.

According to Yavuz, more than 50 planes with tourists on board are arriving in Antalya each day. “We are returning to the good old days.”

He noted that almost no tourists from Ukraine and only a small number of holidaymakers from Russia have come to the city because of the war.

There are signs that other tourist markets, such as the Scandinavian countries and Eastern European countries, are reviving, according to Yavuz.

He also voiced optimism that Antalya is set to attract more tourists from the U.K. this year. “Some 3,000 to 4,000 British tourists may arrive in the city each day,” he said.