ALANYA was promoted at the international tourism fair SMT MAP, held in Paris, France, from March 15 to 18. At the 43rd fair held at Salon Mondial, Alanya was represented by the Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV). Elvan Güneş, a member of the ALTAV Board of Directors and General Secretary of the Alanya Tourism Operators Association (ALTİD), stated that they participated in the French fair for the first time this year under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, with an Alanya stand. "As part of our efforts to explore alternative markets, we participated in this year's fair in France for the first time," she said. "WE PRESENTED CITY ACTIVITIES." Güneş explained that their goal was to increase Alanya's recognition and create demand in France, as in other markets. "In this context, we tried to raise awareness by informing Ministry officials, travel agencies, and visitors to our stand about our region, its historical and cultural richness, and the activities available in our city." "FRENCH PEOPLE ARE WATCHING ALANYA." The Ministry of Culture and Tourism participated in the fair with an area of 200 square meters, and Alanya had a large presence at the stand prepared by Serra Altun Roncaglia, Paris Advisor to the Promotion General Directorate. They had the opportunity to broadcast Alanya promotional videos on the stand's screen. Güneş shared her impressions and observations from the discussions she had at the fair: "FRANCE HAS A POPULATION OF 67 MILLION." During the fair, we tried to highlight not only our most important assets, such as the sea, sand, and sun, but also our other products. A total of 850 participants and 500 destinations were present at the fair. Last year, 105,000 people visited the fair. In order to gain a share of the French market, which has a population of approximately 67 million, other competing countries also carried out effective promotional activities. "TURKEY IS NOT IN TUI'S CATALOGUE." In 2014, 1,370,000 people came from France to Turkey, and this number decreased to 848,000 in 2015. Due to the increase in terrorist events in both France and Turkey, these numbers decreased to 555,000 in 2016 and 578,000 in 2017. Many agencies that brought a large number of tourists to Turkey have removed Turkey from their catalogs in recent years. Turkish agencies have continued their operations, and although the number of passengers has decreased, they have continued their cultural tourism operations. Unfortunately, Turkey is not in TUI's catalogs this year. In the Kemer region, there is only one hotel with which they have an agreement. "IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO REACH THE 2014 FIGURES." According to information received from FTI representative Thomas Giband, they have planned flights from Paris, Lyon, and Basel to Izmir and Antalya, and from Toulouse to Bodrum this year. He said that it would take some time for sales to reach the 2014 levels, that the political situation and the perception of a "war" against Turkey were very effective, and that the market would take time to recover. "FRENCH PEOPLE ARE LOYAL GUESTS." Direct scheduled flights will continue with Atlas Global, Pegasus Airlines, KLM/Air France, Transavia, Sunexpres, and Onur Air. According to information obtained from Güney Levi, representative of Paşa Tur & Deluks Turizm, they expect an increase greater than that of the past two years, but it will take some time to reach the figures of 2014, which was a good year for tourism. We learned that French people are loyal to the destinations they like and are interested in the Antalya and Kemer regions, both due to familiarity and the large number of Club hotels they prefer. We believe that if we can create demand, especially for cultural tours in the regions they visit, Alanya can become an indispensable destination for this customer profile. "THERE IS AN AIRCRAFT SHORTAGE." In a meeting with Mustafa Erdal, owner of Celex Travel, we received information that there was a high demand for sales so far. He said that they were experiencing a charter aircraft shortage throughout the season and were in intensive negotiations with Turkish Airlines (THY), that there was customer demand, but it would be impossible to reach the desired numbers without aircraft. Celex Travel, which also operates from Algeria, stated that it would record a significant increase compared to last year after the transportation restrictions were lifted in 2018. "WE WANT TO PROMOTE TOGETHER WITH THE MINISTRY." On the third day of the fair, Bülent Tüfenkçi, Minister of Customs and Trade, our Ambassador to Paris, Dr. İsmail Hakkı Musa, and İnanç Özçakmak, Deputy General Director of Promotion, visited our stand. During the long time they spent with us, we informed them about the difficulties we are experiencing in the sector, the activities we are carrying out as ALTAV, the unique characteristics of Alanya, and our desire to participate in larger and more effective promotional activities together with the Ministry and the sector. "9 OUT OF 10 FRENCH PEOPLE RECOMMEND TURKEY." Serra Altun Roncaglia, our Paris Promotion Advisor, stated that French people are also interested in golf and thermal tourism, in addition to cultural tourism, and that according to a study on French tourists who vacation in Turkey, 9 out of 10 recommend Turkey as a destination for vacation.