ANTALYA - Ahmet Barut, chairman of Turkish Hotels Federation (TUROFED), said Wednesday 2008 will be a year of record for Turkish tourism.
Speaking to A.A, Barut indicated that "Turkey received 18 billion USD from 23.5 million tourists in 2007."
2008 will be a better year for Turkish tourism, Barut noted.
"We have witnessed great interest in Turkey during the recent Berlin Tourism Fair. We expect to see an increase in the number of tourists arriving into Turkey from European countries, Russian and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In 2008, we expect 27 million tourists to visit Turkey leaving behind revenues of over 20 billion USD. Turkey will experience a record in the number of tourists arriving in the country," Barut remarked.
"The number of tourists coming to Turkey from European Union (EU) member states will increase by around 10 percent and reach a number of 12 million when compared to the last year," Barut told.
"Turkey earned an income of 18 billion USD from tourism in 2007. Our goal is to exceed an income of 20 billion USD in 2008. We must work so that each tourist arriving in Turkey spends more. For more income, we must have tourists stay longer in Turkey and attract more rich tourists. We must make new investments in the Turkish tourism sector so that our income rises," Barut also said.
Meanwhile, southern province of Antalya received 273,469 tourists from 120 countries in the first two months of 2008.
According to the Antalya Culture and Tourism office, most tourists visiting Antalya came from Germany, Israel, Russia, Austria, the Netherlands and France.
Below is a table showing the distribution of tourists who visited Antalya in the first two months of 2008:
Country Total Country Share(%)
Germany 155,802 56.97
Israel 21,895 8.01
Russia 15,427 5.64
Austria 13,659 4.99
Netherlands 11,934 4.36
France 8,953 3.27
Britain 8,163 2.98
Belgium 7,141 2.61
Ukraine 4,759 1.74
Denmark 4,394 1.61
Switzerland 3,638 1.33
Norway 2,349