Some 44,819 tourists from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) visited Turkey in the first nine months of 2002, a 50 percent increase compared to figures from the same period last year.
Saudi Arabia remains the biggest GCC tourism market for Turkey. Arrivals from the Kingdom reached 23,420 from January to September. Travelers from Kuwait reached 6,552, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contributed 5,542 tourists, Bahrain 3,902, Oman 1100, and Qatar 761.
Turkey is to mount its biggest ever Arabian Travel Market promotion this year, more than doubling the size of its stand for the 10th edition of the Middle East’s annual travel and tourism show. The move comes as Turkey plans to capitalize on growing inbound tourism traffic from the Gulf and Middle East.
"The Middle East still only accounts for 1.66 percent of Turkey's total tourism arrivals," explained Information Attache at the Kuwait-based Turkish Tourism and Information Office, Hasan Zongur. "When you take into consideration the size of the Middle East region and the numbers of people going abroad every year, the percentage of arrivals remains low. In the coming years our target is to increase tourism arrivals from the Middle East to about 10 percent of Turkey's total tourism market.”
Turkey is among 12 official national tourism organizations to confirm pavilions for this spring’s Arabian Travel Market, which, to date, has contracted exhibitors from 35 countries. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
