Mehmet Dahaoğlu, Vice President of the Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD) and the Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV), met with Kamil Özil, General Manager of Meeting Point—a major incoming agency network organization of FTI Group—and Asiye Tunçalp, Turkey Contract Director. Providing important information from the company's perspective during the meeting, Özil stated the following: If we are to address the developments in tourism from our own perspective, we can say that we are having a difficult season. We are exerting serious effort to overcome these difficult conditions. We have confidence in Antalya tourism until the very last moment. Company owners and investors are maintaining this environment of confidence at a high level. In return for this confidence, it is our duty to work wholeheartedly with the support of our partners, and in this way, we are able to overcome many difficulties. We will most likely reach our target of one million passengers this year, or reach a level very close to it. Our target last year was also one million passengers, but we remained at 800 thousand passengers. As of 2017, our current sales have exceeded the 820 thousand level. Although we felt a crisis in Europe within the last week, sales have started to gain momentum again.
“WE WERE AFFECTED BY THE CRISIS”
We have a winter season ahead of us, and winter season sales are trending negatively, but I believe we can overcome this. Alanya plays an important role in this regard. In terms of providing service to guests during the winter period, Alanya is in an advantageous position within the Antalya regions. Alanya is a city that lives in winter as well. We aim to bring this vitality to the forefront in Germany. We used a photo of Alanya in FTI’s winter catalog. We experienced difficulties in Alanya sales last year. This year, we want to support Alanya more. FTI Group has started its operations in the Netherlands, alongside Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France in Central Europe. However, we were also affected by the crisis experienced in the Netherlands. We are not where we want to be right now, but we believe that FTI will also hold a significant share in these markets in the coming years. Our current structure and our contracts are also being established in this direction. We have largely secured market leadership in Germany. We are conducting studies on how to develop this in France and the Netherlands.
“WE ARE PLANNING HOTEL INVESTMENT IN ALANYA”
We want to work more for Alanya. We especially want to act together on larger projects with ALTAV. By acting together, we can better convey that Alanya is a safe holiday city in Germany. In order for the British to be able to come to the city of Antalya more frequently, the flight component needs to be strengthened. We are making serious progress for Alanya in the UK market. We are acting together with our hotel partners. We are planning hotel investments in Alanya in the coming period. This will also increase our concentration.