Mr. Ozgur Ozaslan, Deputy Undersecretary at Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism organized a press conference for international media on Monday.

Ozaslan stated that despite the failure of Turkey-specialist Goldtrail Holidays, travel agency Sun4U and Kiss Flights this summer, UK visitor numbers to Turkey are up 12% for the first nine months of this year. The international visitor numbers to Turkey were also up 6%, to 23 million, for the same period this year. "Turkey acted with considerable maturity and none of the holidaymakers sent by Goldtrail were left in the cold" said Ozaslan.

Mugla is the top destination for UK tourists but other regions are catching up, added Ozaslan. The number of holidaymakers to Mugla has increased by 15% year on year, while visitor numbers to Antalya have risen by 34% and to Izmir by 55%.

Turkey will try to promote tourism products other than its 3S (Sea, Sun, Sand) travel products in UK market.

Ozaslan revealed that Turkey's aim for 2023 is to be world's top 5th country in number of tourist arrivals. Currently, Turkey ranks seventh in world tourist arrivals.