Russia will save Turkish tourism

The East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition (EMITT) has opened its doors in Istanbul on the same day the Hotel Association of Turkey (TÜROB) announced that hotel occupancy rate in Turkey was the lowest in Europe in 2016, with only 50.8 percent of the total number of rooms being full. EMITT has triumphed as the world's fifth largest fair in the past 21 years. Held between Jan. 26 and 29, the fair, in its brochure, calls itself, "The Fastest Growing Tourism Exhibition in the Region." 

In its early years, EMITT had been holding its events in a small hall in Istanbul. Now it holds its events in Istanbul's biggest exhibition center, TÜYAP, taking up 11 halls, covering 70,000 square meters of space and greets representatives from 80 participant countries. The exhibition's director, Hacer Aydın, is behind this success and calls EMITT "her baby growing up in her arms." 

Aydın said they have invited 480 tour operators to the fair this year and said it would serve as an important platform to overcome the crisis. The tourism sector is hopeful for 2017 and they expect a significant increase in the number of incoming tourists from Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands. Russia is seen as a lifesaver for Turkey's tourism.  

Early bookings in Turkish hotels show serious demand from Russian tourists. According to the head of Professional Hotel Managers Association, Hakan Duran, early bookings for holidays in 2017 from Russia were twice as much as the demands in 2015. Duran believes that 3 million tourists may come from Russia in 2017. 

In 2015, there were 3.6 million incoming tourists from Russia. After a diplomatic crisis between the two countries over Turkey's shooting down of a Russian fighter jet in late 2015, the number of...