Recep Yavuz

With the arrival of autumn, cultural tourism across Türkiye is picking up pace, particularly in Istanbul-Ephesus-Cappadocia, which tourism representatives have dubbed the "Golden Triangle."

The tourism industry in Türkiye's popular holiday destination Antalya is facing risks from the bankruptcy of the German tour operator FTI.

Earlier this week, FTI, Europe's third-largest tour operator, filed for insolvency in a court in Germany.

It said on June 3 trips that haven't yet started will be canceled or scaled back.

The implementation of visa-on-arrival applications for several Greek Islands has sparked significant interest among Turkish tourists, with Rhodes emerging as a particularly popular destination.

Over 5,000 Turkish visitors crossed from Marmaris and Fethiye in the western province of Muğla to Rhodes Island during the week-long holiday period.

Several Greek islands, where visa-on-arrival applications will commence on April 1, are expected to be the top destination abroad during the upcoming nine-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, according to tourism experts.

Long waiting time in traffic has been one of the most common complaints of visitors coming to the tourism hotspot of Antalya, which hosts millions of domestic and foreign holidaymakers annually, this tourism season.

Sixteen million tourists are expected to visit Antalya this year, breaking the all-time tourism record of 2019.

With a whopping 585 thousand reservations made and a predicted holiday activity of 2 million people expected, the southern province of Antalya expects a historic spike in tourism during the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday.

Russian tourists' bookings for holidays in Türkiye, especially in Antalya, have increased by 20 percent in the past few weeks compared with April and May, Turkish daily Milliyet has reported.

Russian holidaymakers had delayed vacation plans due to the ongoing war and elevated inflation which eroded their purchasing power. Russians were looking for alternative destinations to Türkiye.

Türkiye is the second cheapest holiday destination for German tourists after Albania, Recep Yavuz, from the Antalya City Council's Tourism Working Group, has said, citing a recent study by Germany's Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).

The study compares holiday destinations based on accommodation costs and daily expenditure.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Antalya slowed in the first half of May, Recep Yavuz from the Antalya City Council Tourism Working Group has said, adding that this was due to fewer visits by Russian holidaymakers.

Antalya saw a record number of foreign tourist arrivals in January, February, March and April this year. However, tourism activity appeared to have lost some momentum in May.

Turkish citizens living abroad have taken the fifth place after Russians, Germans, British and Poles who visited the southern province of Antalya the most in 2022, leaving behind the number of expats witnessed in 2019.