SA tourism roadshow to target Turkish travel trade

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa's national tourism agency is set to conduct a roadshow for the first time in Istanbul, Turkey, to create platforms for access to that market, it said on Thursday.

The January 30 roadshow will provide 11 operators, including small, medium and micro-enterprises, an opportunity to engage with approximately 50 specially selected Middle East and Turkish travel trade companies, South African Tourism said in a statement.

It will the 23rd East Mediterranean International Tourism & Travel exhibition in Instabul, at which SA Tourism and trade partner will participate.

"Turkey is a strategically important market to SA Tourism as it is a springboard to the rest of the Middle East, India, and South East Asia region," SA Tourism said.

Factors that make South Africa an attractive destination for Turkish visitors include the fact that there are no visa requirements for travellers from both ends, and for Turkish tourists there is favourable airlift, said Sthembiso Dlamini, SA Tourism’s chief operating officer.

"This means there are direct flights from Turkey to South Africa with Turkish Airlines coupled with a sufficient number of frequencies offered by other airlines," Dlamini said.

"This has led to 12 139 Turkish tourist arrivals between January and October 2018, a 2.4 percent increase from the previous year."

Studies show that Turkish families visit South Africa for the culture, scenic beauty, beaches and safaris, while young tourists tend to be drawn by action and adventure tours.

Halaal tourism is also a factor. Since most Turkish travellers are Muslim, South Africa is well positioned to cater to their needs through a wide array of halaal restaurants and eateries across all nine provinces.

South Africa was ranked among the top 10 most Muslim-friendly travel destinations for 2018 by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in the annual MasterCard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index.

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Turkey's tourism income totals $29.5B in 2018

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA 

Turkey's tourism income totaled $29.5 billion in 2018, the country's statistical authority announced on Thursday. 

The annual tourism revenue surged 12.3 percent last year, up from $26.3 billion in the previous year, TurkStat reported.

"While 81.8 percent of this income [excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures] was obtained from foreign visitors, 18.2 percent was obtained from citizens resident abroad," TurkStat said.

"In this year, while individual expenditures constituted $22.5 billion of the total tourism income, $6.9 billion of tourism income was obtained by package tour expenditures," it said.

Turkey welcomed 45.6 million visitors in 2018, marking a 18.1 percent hike from the previous year -- 85.4 percent foreign and 14.6 percent representing Turkish citizens residing abroad.

According to the official data, average expenditure per capita was $647 in 2018, as foreigners spent $617 per capita and Turkish citizens spent $801 per capita.

TurkStat said visitors spent most for food and beverage in 2018 -- foreigners with around $4.38 billion and Turkish visitors with $1.55 billion.

Foreigners spent some $2.7 billion on clothes and shoes, and $966 million on souvenirs in addition to nearly $77 million on carpets and rugs. 

The primary visiting purpose of foreigners was "travel, entertainment, sports and cultural activities" with 60.5 percent, as their top accommodation choice was hotel/motel/pension with over 36 million overnights.

The primary travel reason of Turkish visitors residing abroad was “visiting relatives and friends” with 50.4 percent, while they mostly preferred private houses during their trips in Turkey with more than 17 million overnights.

Official figures also showed that the country's tourism expenditure -- which is the expenditure of the Turkish citizens resident in Turkey and visited abroad -- fell to some $4.9 billion last year, declining by 4.7 percent on a yearly basis.  

"In 2018, number of Turkish citizens visited abroad decreased by 5.7 percent compared to previous year and reached 8.38 million.

"Average expenditure was $584 per capita," the institute said.

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China issues Turkey safety alert after Ankara’s ‘vile’ statements about treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang

The Chinese embassy in Ankara advised residents and tourists travelling to Turkey to “be wary and pay attention to their personal safety”.

Turkey on Sunday described China’s treatment of its Muslim ethnic Uygur people as “a great embarrassment for humanity”, prompting a strong rebuke.

Beijing said that the Turkish criticisms were “vile”, and that Turkey should have a proper understanding of the legal efforts made by China to fight terrorism and extremism within its borders effectively.

China has already issued warnings to Canada and Sweden – where relations with Beijing have nosedived – in a move analysts described as an expression of displeasure.

China and Canada have been at loggerheads since the arrest on December 1 of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, whom the US wants to extradite on fraud charges. Meng has since been released on bail in Vancouver.

Uygur man, detained in Turkey for suspected terror links, wary of China’s reach

In January, against the background of Meng’s situation, China issued a warning of the risk of travelling to Canada, hours after Ottawa issued a similar alert.

A notice by the Chinese foreign ministry said citizens should be aware of the risk of being “arbitrarily detained at the request of a third nation” in Canada, and urged caution when making travel plans.

In December, China issued a travel alert warning its citizens about the risks of visiting Sweden.

The two sides have long been at odds over human rights, but in early September a group of Chinese tourists claimed they had been mistreated by the Swedish police, an incident that generated a fierce backlash.

China and Sweden are also at odds over Beijing’s detention of Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen and publisher of books critical of China’s leadership.

Transcript of Gui Minhai’s government-arranged interview: ‘Swedish government used me’

“The statement made by the Chinese embassy is a countermeasure on the Turkish government,” said analyst Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“It is a message telling the Turkish government that you should not say too much about the internal affairs in China, otherwise economic relationships, tourism, this sort of thing, could be affected.”

Analysts said that while there was a potential risk for Chinese citizens in Turkey, the situation was not grave.

“People making transfer flights in Istanbul will not have to worry,” said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University. “But there may be increased risk for Chinese tourists travelling deep into the country from Muslim groups such as the Turkestan Islamic Party after Turkey’s strong stance.”

“I think it will have an impact on a very small number of tourists,” Li said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China issues safety alert for visitors to Turkey as row over Uygurs escalates

Turkey sees 25 percent rise in foreign visitors in first seven months of year: Tourism ministry

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey in the first seven months of 2018 increased by nearly 25 percent, compared to the same period last year, data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry showed on Aug. 29. 

More than 21.6 million foreign visitors arrived in Turkey from January to July, compared to 17.3 million in the first seven months of 2017, according to the ministry data.

Russians accounted for over 15 percent or 3.3 million visitors of total visitors in the first seven months of the year, followed by Germans with around 11 percent, or 2.3 million, and Iranians with 6 percent, or 1.3 million visitors. 

Iran was followed by Georgia and the United Kingdom. 

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city by population and one of its top tourist draws, and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya recorded the greatest number of foreign arrivals, 7.5 million and 6.7 million respectively. 

The month of July saw arrival of 5.7 million foreigners by an 11.7 percent year-on-year rise.

The number of foreign arrivals into Turkey regressed to 25.4 million in 2016 due to an escalation in security concerns and a diplomatic crisis with Russia. Last year, Turkey’s tourism sector witnessed a strong rebound as bilateral ties with Russia normalized and security worries eased, with 32.4 million foreigners visiting Turkey. 

A report from the Hotels Association of Turkey (TÜROB) showed that hotels enjoyed significant increases in occupancy rates in the first seven months of the year, driven by the rise in foreign arrivals. 

Hotel occupancy rates across Turkey rose 15.7 percent year-on-year to 64.8 percent and average daily revenue (ADR) rose to 69 euros by a 25.2 percent yearly increase in the mentioned period, according to STR Global data, which was announced by TÜROB on Aug. 29. 

Thus, Turkey reached the highest increase in terms of both hotel occupancy rates and ADR among all European destinations in the January-July period, TÜROB said. 

Hotel occupancy rates saw a 7.1 percent yearly increase and hit 74.9 percent in July, with ADR increasing to 87.8 euros by a nearly 12 percent yearly increase, STR Global data also showed. 

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