Offered condolences for the martyrs of the terrorist attack that occurred in Hatay Dörtyol. Pointing out that Turkey has already achieved a very special success within the last 20-25 years, Minister Günay stated that it is both a struggle against terrorism and a tourism success that has risen from the 2-3 million level to the 30 million level, saying: “If there had not been terrorism while Turkey was trying to elevate its tourism, develop its economy, and establish social success within the last 20-25 years, Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia could also be world-renowned, very important tourism destinations of Turkey today.” Stating that despite all this, on one hand, this struggle to establish social peace and the struggle to protect our unity and integrity is being carried out, while on the other hand, Turkey has been raised to the highest levels of world tourism, he spoke by saying, “the owners of this success are our friends sitting at this table."
Stating that Türkiye had a good tourism season last year, Günay said: "We are in a difficult year now. 2012 will be quite challenging. There are extra difficulties this year. It is seen that there will be some troubles in Southeast Türkiye. We will compensate for this with new markets. We had efforts to open new consultancies in new markets around the world. With the directive of the Honorable Prime Minister, the studies will be concluded at the beginning of this June. We will open a second consultancy in Petersburg, Russia. In a large market like China, we will open a second consultancy based in Shanghai. I do not know how it was in previous years, but we will open a consultancy in Sydney, Australia, where we had closed our consultancy. Currently, we do not have a consultancy in Latin America. We are trying to manage all of Latin America from Spain. We will open a consultancy in Sao Paolo, the most developing city of Brazil. We are trying to open a consultancy based in Tunis in North Africa. We are trying to open a consultancy in Greece. We will open second or new consultancies in 7 separate centers. This includes the effort to expand into new markets and to conduct greater promotion in emerging markets. There are very important steps being taken regarding the coming together of the tourism sector in Türkiye. Even if there is no legal framework, they are trying to create a unity among themselves. This unity will also bring us to a legal umbrella. The legal status of our guide friends was also uncertain. They had been requesting a law for a long time. The day before yesterday, a draft law passed unanimously in the TBMM Tourism Commission. God willing, if the same support continues in the general assembly, we will provide our guide friends with a law during this legislative period. May the same happen for the other components of the tourism sector hereafter." Minister Ertuğrul Günay later attended a cocktail attended by the TÜFOFED management, Alanya District Governor Hulusi Doğan, Gazipaşa District Governor Muhittin Pamuk, Alanya Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu, and tourism professionals.
Following the opening speech by ALTİD President Gülçin Güner, Antalya Governor Dr. Ahmet Altıparmak and Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertuğrul Günay delivered speeches. ALTİD President Gülçin Güner presented a yalı boat as a souvenir of Alanya. A report containing the main topics was presented to the Minister, including the facilitation of the difficult permit process for Gazipaşa Airport regarding Alanya tourism, the activation of golf courses for 12-month tourism, the Alanya Municipality Barrier-Free Tourism City accessibility project, and the completion of the Alara Stream breakwater construction before the 2013 tourism season. Following a tour on the morning of March 18 of the area located in the Alanya Castle Harbor region, which houses the Ship and Maritime Museum whose 1st Stage works have been completed, and a visit to the Alanya Museum, where information and renovation works are ongoing, they departed from Alanya in the afternoon.