Students from Helsingor Gymnasium entered a camp in Alanya together with their sports instructors. 26 Danish volleyball players and 2 coaches will be in Alanya for one week. Helsingor Gymnasium Sports Teacher Thea Feld, stating that they are bringing a student group to Alanya for the second time, said, “With the permission of our school, we conduct camp studies in different countries. Our students in the 17-19 age group get to know different cultures. We brought the first student group to Alanya last year. The students made very good use of their one-week period here and were satisfied. This year, we brought our 2nd student group to Alanya for sports purposes. And I think we will be here again in the coming years with new student groups.”
‘STUDENTS ARE HAPPY TO BE IN ALANYA’
Another sports instructor, Helle Danielsen, stated that students enrolling in their schools have the right to go on an overseas camp once during their three-year education, saying, “Students are happy to be in Alanya. Moreover, they cover the expenses out of their own pockets. Despite this, participation is good. The weather in Denmark is around 5-10 degrees, but Alanya is quite warm. Within the framework of the training program, we can easily perform activities such as mountain biking, hiking tours, castle trekking tours, swimming, and running here. The availability of hotel options at various price ranges and the proximity of the city center to the hotels play a major role in our preference for Alanya.”
‘MORE INVESTMENT IS REQUIRED’
Volleyball Coach Mehmet Sezen, who accompanied the Helsingor Gymnasium group during the camp, stated that sports tourism provides great contributions to Alanya's winter tourism, and expressed that more investment should be made in sports in Alanya to attract more clubs and athletes to the region.
‘THERE ARE MORE THAN 100,000 UNEMPLOYED’
Burhan Sili, President of the Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD), pointed out that the number of athletes coming to Alanya will increase with the implementation of the ‘Velodrome’ project, which is currently in the planning stage through the efforts of Emin Müftüoğlu, President of the Turkish Cycling Federation, and the ‘Youth Center’ investments where many sports branches can be practiced; he also emphasized that new sports facility investments must be brought to the region so that more hotels can remain open during the winter season. Stating, “Following the local elections, we must work together to attract more state and private sports facility investments to Alanya, which earns its living from tourism,” Sili declared, “Directly or indirectly, everyone in Alanya earns their living from tourism. More than 100,000 of our people become unemployed during the winter period. In order to increase employment and prevent more of our local people from being unemployed, it is necessary for our facilities to remain open. For this reason, sports facility investments, in particular, must be brought to the region.”
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