The Ministry of Culture & Tourism of the Republic of Turkey and Agents Association of India(TAAI) conducted Destination Turkey workshops and B2B interactions in six Indian cities from February 24-29, 2020. The roadshow series began at Kolkata and was followed by session in Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai. The event aimed for increasing culture and tourism ties with India.
At the inaugural of every session, there was a presentation by H Deniz Ersoz, Culture & Tourism Counselor, of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, who presented Turkey as an attractive destination for the Indian market with its UNESCO world heritage sites, beautiful scenery and fabulous gastronomy. He also presented the statistics of foreign arrivals in Turkey which was counted as almost 52 million in 2019, the Indian visitor’s footfall was more than 230,000, 56% increase from that in 2018. In 2020, Turkey tourism expects 300,000 Indian arrivals.
Each City witnessed from 150 to 350 attendees which involved travel fraternities like Mr. Manoj Kumar Sogani, Chapter Chairman Rajasthan Chapter, Mr. Nagesh Pampati, Chapter Chairman, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana Chapter, Mr. Sameer Karnani, Chapter Chairman Western Region with the top travel agents of MICE and Weddings, stakeholders, policy makers, Turkish and IndiGo airlines attended the roadshow in these cities. The DMCs and hotels interacted with the agents and shared insights on how to promote Turkey as a destination. There were also short presentations by Turkish Airlines and IndiGo Airlines which provide direct connectivity from India to Turkey.
Turkey has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, culture and commerce and it is imperative that the scope of engagement between both countries should now be taken to the second level. The number of Indian tourist arrivals, Indian weddings in Turkey and MICE engagements is increasing steadily which is a good sign. Hotels and resorts in Turkey are witnessing a significant surge in tourist arrivals. ‘The 6 city Turkey Tourism Roadshow received a stupendous response from the travel trade and the quality of B2B meetings truly reflect the potential of India’s outbound market to Turkey” added Mrs. Jyoti Mayal, President TAAI.
