The Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV) took its place at MTPolska, a tourism fair held in Warsaw, the largest city and capital of Poland. Alanya was represented at the fair by ALTAV and the Vice President of the Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD), Mehmet Dahaoğlu. Following his meetings and observations, Dahaoğlu stated the following: “THE MINISTRY OPENED A 242 SQUARE METER STAND” Since it is the 25th year, the fair is being held this year at a center built in modern Soviet architecture, a work of the Russians. It is observed that there are more participants due to its location in the center and a higher number of countries and agency representatives opening stands compared to previous years. In an interview we conducted with the Undersecretary of Culture and Tourism, Volkan Akgül, he stated that as the Ministry, Turkey's promotion is being carried out at a large stand of 242 square meters with 13 participants. On behalf of ALTAV, we presented him with a plaque for his successes and support. General Manager of Promotion, Ahmet Temurci, is also supporting Mr. Volkan in his meetings at this fair. “TURKEY HAS REACHED THE SUMMIT” In meetings held with tour operators, everyone reported that they have doubled their 2018 targets, and if this is realized, they aim for 550,000 people, surpassing 2014 figures across all of Turkey. They stated that the Polish tourist profile resembles ours, consisting mostly of families with children, and that Turkey has returned to the summit with the disappearance of the security threat; they added that as the Ministry, they are making all kinds of arrangements to convert this into numbers, and they will organize a Patara Ancient City exhibition for one month in the coming weeks. “WE HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON GAZIPAŞA ALANYA AIRPORT” While Alanya, Manavgat, Bodrum, Ağrı, Ardahan, Iğdır, and Kars were the participating destinations at the fair, Coral Travel-Wezzyr, Orextravel, Prima Travel, İtaka, and Neckerman also drew attention as participating agencies. Coral Travel-Wezzyr Travel General Manager Kağan Ergün stated that they have been planning flights to Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport (GZP) for two years, even scheduling their first plane last June and filling it successfully, but they paused these plans after the Association of Tour Operators in Russia published negative news regarding flights to Turkey. He promised that they have not given up on GZP, that they want to schedule 4-5 flights per week once the planning is completed, and that he would specifically call and inform me of this good news within a few days. “ONE IN EVERY 2 PEOPLE PREFERS ALANYA” He stated that they saw figures of 227,000 from Poland to Antalya with all operators in 2015, 90,000 in 2016, and 145,000 in 2017, and that they aim to reach a record number of 250,000 people in 2018, with 45 percent of this figure belonging to them. Furthermore, he noted that they bring one out of every two arriving tourists to Alanya and that Alanya is very popular in Poland. “WE ARE INVITING MEMBERS OF THE PRESS AND BLOGGERS” On behalf of Alanya, we are conducting promotion together with Polish Lecturer Anna Maria Bielecka from Alanya Hamdullah Emin Paşa (HEP) University. By meeting with the visiting members of the press and bloggers, we say that we will create a special program for them in Alanya at the beginning of the season and invite them. We are giving interviews in the Polish language to radio and TV programs. “HOTEL OPERATORS SHOWED NO INTEREST” While Enka Tour incoming agency owner Süha Özçakıl expressed that his partner Prima Travel has provided good news regarding Turkey this year and that initial reservations are at a high level, he stated that it is very saddening that hotel businesses do not show sufficient interest and provide low participation in such a fair.