Turkey targets 6 countries to boost tourism
Last week, Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmuş announced that Turkey will focus on China, India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia in the Far East in order to provide market diversification beyond traditional markets in tourism. In a message to sector representatives, Kurtulmus said the aim was to increase Chinese tourism to more than 1 million over the next few years more, and suggested the sector should make necessary infrastructure adjustments, including employing Chinese-speaking staff.
China will be the first step in terms of market diversification in tourism into the Far East, following the Chinese government’s announcement that 2018 will be promoted as ‘Turkey Tourism Year”, Kurtulmus said. Large-scale promotional events will be organized in both Shanghai and Beijing on March 19 and Kurtulmus will make a visit to China in April.
Noting the rising interest among Chinese, Kurtulmus announced plans to strengthen the perception of Turkey through promotional campaigns on TV channels and social media. “This is not something that will happen in a day,” he warned, “but it has started very successfully. We will have dozens of activities until the end of the year. As a result of these activities, Turkey, will be introduced to a large segment of the Chinese population. China is more a continent than a country. We are talking about a population of 1.7 billion people.”
Focus on new tour sm markets
The promotional campaign will include videos shot at the main tourist attractions, such as Topkapi Palace and will be shown in China in the next few months, Kurtulmus said. In addition, the Ministry will hold events there targeting the Chinese market. Next year, Kurtulmus noted, will be a similar ‘Turkish year’ in Japan, which will provide the context for another expansion of tourism into Turkey’s non-traditional markets
“We will focus on China, India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia” he said. “The total population of these countries is almost half of the world population, so there is great potential. These are countries that stand out with their wealthy and powerful middle classes. The industry needs to be prepared for this situation. We also need to start some infrastructure preparations, especially the recruitment of Chinese speaking staff in the tourism sector.”