Turkey warmly welcomes Russians - Today's Zaman

R09-19-03-08.qxd 16.03.2008 21:42 Page 1AGENDAMARCH 19-22, 2008TODAY’S TOURISM09No reason to fear fast growth in tourism, says officialFew can deny that the Turkish tourism industryhas been thriving since 2000, and the resultingnumber of investments has seen a significant risein accommodations to house the growing number of foreignvisitors. However, this unprecedented growth isnonetheless being interpreted by some as a negative situationsince the growing number of investments has broughtalong greater competition, which naturally results in drasticdiscounts in prices -- and some say a drop in quality."I believe that fearing the fast growth of the sector ismeaningless," President of the Association of the AnatolianTourism Enterprises (ATÝD) Seçim Aydýn said. Assertingthat the growth in the sector was natural and in line withthe rules of supply and demand, he said: "However, whatwe should pay attention to at this point is that the competitionin quality is becoming more important than thecompetition over the lowest prices. The tourism sector willcontinue to be Turkey's locomotive sector as it has thepossibility of competing both in quality and price."In response to Today's Tourism's questions onrecent developments in the tourism sector, Aydýnnoted that a total of 23.3 million tourists came toTurkey in 2007 and that the resulting revenue was$18,5 billion, adding that Germans topped the listwith 4.1 million visitors, followed by 2.5 millionRussians. Russian tourists have started shaking theGerman domination in recent months, Aydýn said,noting, "What matters at the current stage is not thenationality of the tourists, but the number of thetourists and the growth of the tourism revenues."Aydýn further assessed the targets set at the wellattendedTourism Search Conference held in Antalyabetween Feb. 28 and March 2. Recalling that some ofthe targets set at the conference included reaching 50million tourists, tourism revenue of $50 billion, 1.25million beds, 5 million employees including indirectemployment and getting Turkey to rank among thefirst five countries in world tourism, he said, "Theseare quite realistic as long as the tourism sector inTurkey maintains its unity and consistency." He alsostressed that all sorts of problems could be solvedthrough dialogue with the government, "The importanceof the tourism sector will continue growing asthe locomotive sector of the Turkish economy."One of the most persistent problems of the tourismsector is the lack of publicity and marketing, and the publicitycampaigns and marketing should be treated as twodifferent activities and be separated, he noted, stressingthat publicity should be understood as a far more complexand far-reaching set of activities. "It is really difficult to saythat publicity activities for Turkey tourism are sufficient. Inorder for it to reach the desired level, all public and privatesectors, universities and civil society organizations shouldbe mobilized toward a common target," he said, addingthat a "Publicity Council" could be founded with the participationof all these sectors. Antalya Today's TourismSeçim AydýnTourism potentialunderminedby terrorism,sanitationcontýnued from page 1The top 10 countries in the tourism competitivenessindex are Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Spain,Australia, Britain, the US, Sweden, Canada and France.The index shows that Turkey is more competitive thanEgypt, India, China and Romania, whereas Greece,Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Tunisia, theUnited Arab Emirates, Mauritius and Bulgaria rank higherthan Turkey. The report ranks Cameroon, Bangladesh,Burundi, Lesotho and Chad at the bottom of the list asthe least competitive countries in the field of tourism.The findings of the report on Turkey's tourism performancealso include the following: The country ranks56th for level of policies and regulations that facilitate thedevelopment of travel and tourism; 57th in terms of thetravel and tourism business environment and infrastructure.Turkey stands 44th in the 130-country list in the indexof cultural and natural resources.The report also notes that Turkey hosts nine prominentsites included in the World Heritage list. It notes: "Yet,the country's competitiveness is poor due to concerns oversafety and security, health and hygiene and insufficienttransport infrastructure. Furthermore, priority should begiven to preservation of the country's natural resources."The report also includes a ranking on the treatment offoreigners. Turkey ranks 39th on this list; the top 10 countriesconsidered most hospitable to their visitors areMontenegro, New Zealand, Austria, Singapore, Malta,United Arab Emirates, Burkina Faso, Iceland, Ireland andThailand. The countries with the worst hospitality ratings areChina, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,the Russian Federation, Poland, Venezuela and Oman.Advantages versus disadvantagesThe advantages and disadvantages of Turkey that the reportmakes reference to in the ranking of 130 countries in relation tocompetitiveness in tourism include the following:Political rules and regulationsTurkey ranks 52nd for real estate ownership by foreigners (disadvantage).Ranks 55th in the influence of regulations in regards to foreigndirect investment (FDI) in business (disadvantage).Ranks 59th in transparency in the creation of administrative policies(disadvantage)Environmental protectionRanks 57th in the strict implementation of environmental regulations(disadvantage).Ranks 67th in level of deterrence of environmental regulations(disadvantage).Ranks 56th in the sustainability of development in travel andtourism industry (disadvantage).Safety and securityRanks 100th in the cost of terrorism for business (disadvantage).Ranks 52nd in the reliability of police services (disadvantage).Ranks 58th in the cost of criminal acts and violence for business(disadvantage).Health and hygieneRanks 77th in the number of doctors (disadvantage).Ranks 60th in access to health services (disadvantage).Ranks 51st in access to potable water (disadvantage).Priority given to travel and tourismRanks 58th in the planning for travel and tourism industry in thegovernment (disadvantage).Ranks 63rd in the efficiency of marketing (disadvantage).Air transportation infrastructureRanks 49th in the quality of air transportation infrastructure (advantage).Ranks 43rd in the international air transportation network (advantage).Land transportation infrastructureRanks 50th in the quality of roads (advantage).Ranks 66th in the quality of railways (disadvantage).Ranks 83rd in port infrastructure (disadvantage).Ranks 46th in domestic transportation network (advantage).Human resourcesRanks 70th in the quality of the education system (disadvantage).Ranks 43rd in the local access to research and education services(advantage).Ranks 87th in employment and layoff regulations (disadvantage).Ranks 77th in the employment of foreign labor (disadvantage).Ranks 16th in the impact of HIV/AIDS (advantage).Natural resourcesRanks 21st in terms of the number of natural sites included inthe World Heritage list (advantage).Ranks 106th in the quality of natural environment (disadvantage).Cultural resourcesRanks 17th in the number of cultural sites included in the WorldHeritage list (advantage).Ranks 80th in the number of athletic stadiums (disadvantage).Ranks 31st in the number of fairs and exhibitions (advantage).Ýstanbul Today's Tourism