Ramadan Feast was a cure for the tourism sector: More than 20 million movements, 150 million lira turnover

The 9-day Eid al-Fitr holiday stimulated tourism in the domestic market. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s early announcement of the decision to extend the holiday made the tourism industry happy. Citizens, who started their travel preparations with the announcement of the holiday, made early reservations, taking into account the hot weather in the holiday regions. Hotels on the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Aegean regions had a 9-day holiday with a hundred percent occupancy rate. In addition to the holiday in the domestic market, the fact that Europeans’ Easter Holiday is close to Ramadan Holiday also had an impact on the occupancy rate. Hotels were flooded with local and foreign tourists.

Nearly 200 thousand people entered the city from the airport in 5 days.

On the other hand, the density was also reflected in the data at Antalya Airport domestic and international terminals. Between 9-13 April, a total of 182 thousand 827 people entered the city, 47 thousand 82 from domestic lines and 135 thousand 745 from international lines.

“The facilities that were open were at 100 percent occupancy.”

Stating that the Eid al-Fitr was a full one, Hamit Kuk, Chief Advisor to the President of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, said: “When we announced our expectations before the Eid, there were people who did not believe it, but during the Eid, it was seen that our expectations were correct. Especially the facilities open in the Mediterranean have reached 100 percent occupancy. It was the same in the Aegean region. It was very productive. Apart from that, Cappadocia and the Black Sea region were full. Hotels in the southeastern region had closed sales 10 days before the holiday. Cultural tours were very intense there. “When we look at the feedback we received from both our agencies and hotels, we had a very productive holiday period,” he said.

“I think it may have reached a turnover of 150 billion lira”

Pointing out that there was a daily intense traffic to Antalya by air, sea and land transportation during Eid, Kuk said, “There were also very busy arrivals in Bodrum, Marmaris and Kuşadası. This is one of the beautiful aspects of Ramadan Feast. People do not stay still, they always visit friends and relatives. Since the 9-day holiday is a very extensive holiday period, I estimate that we have exceeded the 20 million figure based on the impressions we gained from our meetings with the companies we work with and our partners. The climate conditions were also good. Many of our touristic cities were very busy. There was very heavy traffic. “We estimated that the turnover would be over 100 billion lira, I think it may have reached a turnover of 150 billion lira,” he said.

Ramadan and Easter brought an influx of local and foreign tourists

Kuk pointed out that the increase in foreign tourist arrivals also had an effect on the density, and said, “The reason for this is that it is almost the same period as Easter, which is celebrated especially by Europeans, and our Ramadan Feast. Therefore, our coastal area has been flooded with both foreign and domestic tourists. This was very nice too. “The 9-day period was a good start and morale boost for the tourism industry,” he said.

“We can exceed the 2023 record by 10 percent”

Underlining that a good start to the tourism season will also affect the figures at the end of the year, Kuk continued his speech as follows:

“Last year, despite the earthquake, we had a very good summer season as the tourism sector. We broke the record of 2019 and exceeded it. We think that we will exceed 2023 in 2024. The early booking sales that have been continuing since November show this. The minimum increase is 10 percent compared to last year. We expect an increase. We welcomed 56 million passengers in 2023, I estimate we will reach around 60 million this year.”