Turkey to strengthen tourism amid Russia row

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has revealed new measures for the tourism industry, as tension between the country -a highly popular destination for Russian tourists- and Moscow remains high.

Davutoğlu’s remarks came during a press conference to start a major national and international publicity campaign, dubbed “Discover the potential,” in Istanbul on Dec. 25.

Davutoğlu said some measures had already been taken to strengthen Turkey’s competitive tourism capacity earlier in 2015.

As part of those measures, Davutoglu said, travel agents from eight countries that are a part of the Commonwealth of Independent States had already received special incentives.

“We will continue [this] practice by expanding its content. In this regard, we increased the number of tourist-bringing countries to 27,” Davutoğlu said, without specifying the new nations.

Addressing a crowd which included some of the country’s leading business figures, bankers, academics and sportspeople, Davutoğlu said Turkey had already financially supported some travel agents for non-scheduled touristic flights to the tune of $6,000 each.

“We paid around 22,173,000 Turkish Liras [$7.6 million] for 983 flights in the April-May 2015 period,” he said, adding that this practice would continue and increase in the 2016 season.

“The support we will give flights that bring tourists to Antalya, Muğla and İzmir airports is no longer for aircraft coming from a particular country,” Davutoğlu said.

 “[The new implementation] will apply to any aircraft from all countries regardless of their starting point,” he added.

The logo and slogan launch of “Discover the potential” was held in September last year by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

This campaign presents Turkey’s face to the world, replacing the “Made in Turkey” brand.

During the new campaign, which started on Dec. 1 this year, French, English and Arabic-language promotional videos will be shown around the world, while a Turkish video clip is being prepared for the domestic market.