Mehmet Dahaoğlu, Board Member of the Alanya Promotion Foundation (ALTAV), who held meetings at the tourism fair held in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, stated that Alanya was being promoted at this fair for the first time and noted that the Turkey stand had been doubled compared to last year, with promotional activities being carried out in a 200-square-meter area. Pointing out that the Bulgarian market has gained more importance in recent years, Dahaoğlu said that 1 million 600 thousand people out of Bulgaria's population of 6 million entered through the Turkish border last year. Emphasizing that 300 thousand of these visitors stayed for 5 days or more, Dahaoğlu provided the following information:
“10 PERCENT INCREASE WITH BULGARIA AIR AND CORENDON AIR”
On the first day of the fair, Sofia Ambassador Süleyman Gökçe and Culture and Promotion Counselor Cemal Tekkanat hosted Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova at the Turkey stand. Minister Angelkova, who received information regarding developments in Turkey, departed from our stand quite satisfied. Ambassador Gökçe and Counselor Tekkanat conveyed their thanks for the work of ALTAV. Furthermore, the Turkey stand organized by Counselor Tekkanat gained great appreciation from Bulgarians through visual presentations, artistic activities, and refreshments. Counselor Tekkanat, who highlighted Alanya as well as the Aegean Region at the Turkey stand, will direct Bulgarian members of the press to Alanya for promotion in the coming days. Peninsula General Manager Fahrettin Çiçek, Apollo bringing 2,500 people, Orient bringing 7,500 people, and Tez Tur Deputy General Manager Ferhan Yılmaz, who stated that they brought 10,000 people to Turkey, expressed their figures. Altay Yüksel from Aqua Tur and Selçuk Yüksel from Deha Tur, which handles this company's incoming business, also stated that they brought 5,000 people to Turkey and that they aim for a 10 percent increase as they will conduct charter flights with Corendon Airlines and Bulgaria Air on May 1st. In my meeting with Ece Yener, General Manager of Emerald Tur Operator and the provider of incoming services, Sonar Tur, I received information that they brought 26,000 people to Turkey and transported approximately 4,500 of that number to Antalya.
“THEY ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROMOTION OF ALANYA”
Officials from Astral Holidays-Summer Holidays, who brought 3,600 people to Türkiye, stated that they will organize bus services to Antalya and Alanya. I learned that Bulgarian vacationers often prefer the Aegean Region with their own vehicles and buses due to it being closer and more economical in terms of distance. For this reason, many hotels from this region are participating in the Sofia Tourism Fair. Bulgarians, who are beginning to newly discover the Antalya coasts, also draw attention as enthusiasts of holidays and entertainment. Hotels in the Alanya region named MC Hotel, Club Alantur, Annabella, Litore, Sirius, Club Paradiso, Aydınbey, Eftalia, Aska, and Azura Delux also made very important contributions to the promotion of Alanya by opening stands at the fair.