ISTANBUL - Union of Touristic Hotels and Managers (TUROB) took part in the 19th International Tourism Fair ''PHILOXENIA 2003'' which was opened in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Speaking to A.A correspondent about the fair on Thursday, TUROB deputy chairman Timur Bayındır said that 20 hotels which were members of their union attended the fair in Thessaloniki for the third time.
''We saw the advantages of taking part in the fair last year. Particularly Istanbul's hotels are full of Greek tourists this October. We attended the fair to invite Greek groups to Istanbul next year,'' Bayındır said.
Bayındır stated that Turkish hotels would explain the beauties of Istanbul to Greeks in the fair and give them promotion booklets and CDs on Istanbul.
He noted that they would present plaquettes to Greek travel agencies which brought the highest number of Greek tourists to Turkey from north of Greece in a ceremony in which Thessaloniki Mayor would also be present. One of the hotels would also offer two-days accommodation opportunity to a Greek couple free of charge in a lottery to be held on the last day of the fair, he said, adding that their target was to increase the number of tourists coming to Istanbul which was only 2.5 millions.
Timur Bayındır said that ''PHILOXENIA 2003'' fair would last until November 2, adding TUROB would attend 15 international tourism fairs including Utrecht-Holland, Zurich-Switzerland, Madrid-Spain, Moscow-Russia, Bucharest-Romania and Tehran-Iran fairs this year.
(ÖŞ-AÖ) 30.10.2003