Ankara hoping to capture larger share of tourism

ANKARA

The Turkish capital, Ankara, aims to play a larger role in tourism, particularly medical tourism, by promoting tourism activities year-round.

Ankara has an untapped tourism potential, but the city needs a structural change in this sector, Gökhan Esengil from the Turkish Hotel Managers Association (TUROYD) told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Esengil stated that for this purpose, they want to implement the projects prepared by TUROYD in a short time, stressing that campaigns to promote the city are a priority.

One of TUROYD's goals is to expand Ankara tourism to 12 months of the year, he noted.

The biggest problem which adversely affects the city's tourism is the lack of direct flights, according to Esengil.

“The lack of direct flights creates disadvantages especially for health tourism as foreign tourists have to land in other cities and travel long distances to reach Ankara,” he explained.

If this issue is resolved, many more tourists could be lured to the nation’s capital, Esengil said.

Only 470,000 foreigners visited Ankara in the January-August period of 2024, which accounted for 1.3 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals in Türkiye. In August alone, the capital city welcomed around 85,000 foreign tourists.

The competition to attract tourists will become much more intense among the countries in the Mediterranean, he said, adding that alternative tourism models are needed to spread tourism to a wider base.

The diversification of investments and the use of new financing models will trigger growth in the tourism sector, according to Esengil.

From January to August, Türkiye drew 35.8 million foreign tourists, marking a 7 percent increase from the same period of last year.