Erkan Yağcı

Turkish hoteliers are hopeful that tourism activity in 2024 will be as strong as it was last year or even better.

As global competition intensifies, Türkiye should think about how to use AI applications, such as ChatGPT, to lure more tourists to the country, says Erkan Yağcı, the president of the Türkiye Hoteliers' Association (TÜROFED).

Turkish hoteliers are hopeful that the country may continue to attract visitors from Europe in the coming months as the energy crisis there could lure people to spend their winters in warmer destinations.

This could be the busiest winter season in the past three years, according to people from the industry.

The latest data boosted morale and hopes among Turkey's hoteliers that the local tourism industry's performance would be much stronger this year.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey soared 94 percent to 24.7 million people last year while the country's tourism revenues surged 103 percent to $24.5 billion, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Stronger than expected foreign visits this year are boosting hopes of hoteliers in Antalya, Turkey's major holiday destination for both domestic and international travelers, for the tourist season next year.

Some 7 million holidaymakers visited Antalya, one of Turkey's hottest tourism spots, in the first nine months of the year thanks to the "safe tourism certificate" scheme and widespread inoculation among staff working in the industry.

In 2019, Antalya lured nearly 16 million foreign tourists, including some 6 million Russians and 2.7 million Germans.

The resumption of flights between Turkey and Russia amid strong measures to fight coronavirus set off a flood of tourists, with 80 airplanes full of Russian tourists landing in the resort city of Antalya in just one day, according to local officials.