Turkish tourism is set to register bigger growth in 2011 compared to global averages, according to Ekin Fair General Manager Hacer Aydın.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review about her predictions for 2011, Aydın said the global growth rate for the tourism sector in 2011 was expected to hover between 2.2 percent and 2.5 percent. “But when we look at the 2010 data, we can say that Turkish tourism’s growth will surmount that,” she said.

On being asked about her evaluation of data from 2010, Aydın said the greatest development in 2010 for both her group and Turkish tourism was the EMITT tourism fair being ranked as the sixth biggest tourism fair in the world.

“While the other fairs in the region chose to narrow down their operations, EMITT became the only tourism fair growing by 10 percent in 2010,” Aydın said. “In the coming term, we foresee that online sales will gain importance in the marketing leg of the tourism sector and consumer rights will become more important.”

Countries would be more interested in launching new products in the global market in 2011, she said. “And our final prediction is that new products will be developed in tourism marketing and publicity, as well as by businesses, to suit the interests of the what is called the ‘Third Age’ because of the rapidly aging European population,” she said

‘2010 was positive’

Aydın said 2010 was a very positive year for the Turkish tourism sector despite the crisis, adding that the number of tourists visiting Turkey from abroad increased by 6 percent, representing an average 16 percent increase over the last three years. “We should not forget that this growth was registered despite the economic recession.”

However, there has not been an equal increase in terms of tourism income, she said.

“This is the direct result of the crisis,” she said. “But still in terms of both overall tourist numbers and overall revenue, Turkey has been among the few countries in the Mediterranean region to have closed the tourism season with a profit.”

Furthermore, Turkish citizens traveled more in 2010 than they did in previous years, Aydın said, adding that the increase in both domestic and foreign vacations had jumped to above 25 percent.

“In one way, domestic tourism registered bigger growth compared to foreign tourist input, which shows that Turkish tourism has reached a balanced state and formed a sound platform to build stable and sustainable growth on.”

The tourism sector was less affected by the crisis compared to other sectors, and while the number of employees drastically reduced in other sectors, the tourism sector boosted its number of employees, according to Aydın.

“Another thing particularly striking about the 2010 data is that tourism investments spread to a larger area, rather than focusing on traditional regions. The 157 out of 193 tourism investment projects planned in 2010 focused on various Anatolian cities,” she said.

“Another thing is that investments, having previously focused on five-star hotels, have started to be redirected to three- and four-star facilities, which is a development occurring in line with the growing business and commercial activities in Anatolia.”

Fairs coming to town

The EMITT Fair is scheduled to kick of this year on Feb. 10, running through Feb. 13, at the TÜYAP Fair Arena in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü neighborhood. The fair, celebrating its 15th year, will use all 10 halls of the arena due to a boosted number of participants. EMITT Fair coordinating group Ekin Fair’s General Manager Hacer Aydın said her company was very excited about the fair and that almost 90 percent of the available stalls have already been leased by companies or agencies planning to exhibit at the fair. 

During the same week, Istanbul is set to host another big fair, with the Central Asia and Turkey Hotel Investment Conference, organized by Beach events, aiming at bringing together investors and sector chiefs who are willing to follow new trends in the sector and who are excited about establishing new business ties with international peers. The conference will be held at the Ceylan InterContinental Istanbul hotel between Feb. 7 and 9.