ANTALYA (A.A) - 21.05.2002 - Israeli tourists who delayed their holidays due to the clashes between Israel and Palestine began to come to Turkey by sea to spend their holidays.
Alanya Port Enterprise Inc. (ALIDAS) Executive Board Deputy Chairman Servet Unlu told A.A on Tuesday that Israeli tourists began to come to Turkey to spend their holidays again after the fight ended in the region, adding that Magic 1 and Iris luxury ships having the capacity to carry 500 passengers came to Alanya port two or three times in a week.
Unlu said that the sea transportation was improving between Alanya and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and stated that 100,000 tourists including the tourists from TRNC visited Alanya in 2001.
He said that their target was to catch the numbers of last year.
Middle East Antalya Port Operating Inc. Director General Gunduz Yalman said that the problems after September 11 attacks in the United States still continued in marine sector.
He said that they launched initiatives towards middle-class European tourists and added, ''for this reason, we are working to attract the ships visiting Crete-Limassol-Antalya and Rhodes.''
Gunduz stated that they expected the number of ships which visited Antalya port to increase and added that their target was to provide 100 ships to visit Antalya port.