Turkey warmly welcomes Russians - Today's Zaman

R05-19-03-08.qxd 16.03.2008 21:40 Page 1ESSAYMARCH 19-22, 2008TODAY’S TOURISM05Taking Turkish tourism to the next levelcontýnued from page 1Günay: In addition to traditional sun, sea andsand tourism, we are attempting to put ourhistorical and cultural assets to use in tourismand increase product diversity by investing incultural sites and thermal spring areasWith its ideal location where the Asian andEuropean continents meet, its historical,cultural and natural assets and rich product range,Turkey has many competitive advantages in worldtourism. These advantages give Turkey new opportunitiesfor undertaking new and different tourismactivities. In this regard, winter, health, faith andbusiness tourism and similar areas represent themain competitive edge that Turkey enjoys.Turkish tourism has progressed from earning$7.6 billion from 10.4 million tourisms in 2000 to$16.8 billion from 19.8 million tourists in 2006. Lastyear, too, saw many positive developments in thetourism sector as about 23.3 million tourists visitedthe country. These figures put Turkey among the top10 destination countries in the world.With a rich cultural legacy, unique natural settings,tourism diversity, quality tourism facilities andhospitable residents, Turkey is capable of offering afull range of holiday experiences to tourists.The accommodation facilities in our countryare relatively new and comfortable compared toEurope’s well-known destinations, such asSpain or Italy, and this is a great advantage forour country’s tourism sector.Antalya, Ýstanbul and other well-known citiesare among the most preferred destinations.Our ministry aims at ensuring sustainablegrowth in the tourism sector, developing tourismpotential in the inner regions of the country andusing tourism as a strong tool in local and regionaldevelopment. It is our target to make Turkeyamong the top five destinations in the world by2023 by creating new investment areas, increasingproduct diversity and establishing high standards.The figures from the year 2007 show that there is agood possibility or our achieving this goal.In addition to traditional sun, sea and sandtourism, we are attempting to put our historical andcultural assets to use in tourism and increase productdiversity by investing in cultural sites and thermalspring areas. We also want to use product-orientedpromotion by developing different advertisementand promotional campaigns designed specificallyfor different markets in our target countries.Turkey’s primary promotional strategy canbe described as destination-oriented promotionand marketing activities, in addition to promotionthat aims to create brands at national, regionaland local levels. Under its general promotionstrategy, our ministry is conducting destination-orientedpromotional campaigns that highlightoverall quality, emphasizing tourism productswhich are designed for target groups, makinguse of famous faces and supporting all of thisthrough public relations efforts.Our primary aims include promoting ourunique Mediterranean country, our quality tourismfacilities and the hospitality of our nation, in additionto our easily accessible location and rich culturalheritage. We want to develop Turkey’s imageas a clean, healthy and secure destination.In line with these targets, we will preparepromotional videos to highlight the eastern andsoutheastern regions, Antalya, the Aegean region,Cappadocia, spa and thermal tourism locationsand will ensure worldwide distributionof these videos for 12 months.With the www.goturkey.com project, weare planning to make use of novel technologicaldevelopments in our promotion activities. Thiseasily accessible Web site, which is offered inseveral languages, provides images and videosabout culture and art events, tourism opportunities,accommodation possibilities and otherinteresting information. It will help prospectivetourists to plan their holidays online so eachone can have a vacation fitted to their needs.We will also offer high-profile products focusingon conventions, golf, faith tourism, thermaltourism, health, winter sports, city and culture,yachting and other areas.Ýstanbul has an important project for 2010 as ithas been designated a European Capital of Culture.We will continue to lend support to this project.The making of Ýstanbul a European Capital ofCulture in 2010 is becoming more and moremeaningful given the development the region andour country is going through.Turkey will be the guest country at theFrankfurt Book Fair, the biggest of its kind, andthis will help us to promote culture, art and literatureas well as tourism for our country. It will alsohave important consequences with respect to furtherintegration with Europe.As part of its promotional work, our ministry attended139 fairs last year and is scheduled to attend142 in 2008. We prepared year-long promotionalcampaigns and unveiled them at the start of this year.We are working to highlight Turkey’swealth of nature, culture and history as well asthe hospitality of our people. We will extendour communication network by using the latesttechnology to improve the competitiveness ofour tourism sector in the world.We are preparing to implement regionaland sector-based incentives for developing newtourism products. In 2008, the Culture andTourism Ministry will develop and implementprojects for seven tourism corridors, four ecologicaltourism areas, 19 “brand” cities and 10tourism cities as part of the action plan.I believe that our country will take itstourism sector to the next level.PHOTO MEHMET ALÝ POYRAZ