Mehmet Dahaoğlu, Vice President of the ALANYA Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV) and the Alanya Tourism Operators Association (ALTİD), attended the Czech Holiday World fair, one of the fairs organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, and held meetings. Reporting from Prague, Dahaoğlu stated that the fair, which opened its doors for the 28th time, is of great importance as it covers countries in Central Europe. Dahaoğlu announced the number of visitors entering Turkey from the Czech Republic: "In 2014, 151,897 visitors came to our country from the Czech Republic; in 2015, 135,338; in 2016, 46,962; in 2017, 83,409; and in 2018, an increase of 97% compared to the previous year, with 164,637 passengers."
“Turkish Airlines flies to Istanbul 21 times a week.”
Dahaoğlu stated, "Gökhan Çetin, the Turkish Airlines (THY) Manager for Prague, said that THY has been operating flights from Prague to Turkey for 19 years, with three flights per day, totaling 21 flights per week to Istanbul. Approximately 180,000 third-generation Vietnamese people living in the region use THY with connecting flights to travel to their home country. THY officials are conducting promotions and offering refreshments at a 77-square-meter booth. This year, the Ministry of Tourism did not participate in the fair, and consequently, other Turkish companies also did not participate. In fact, it could be said that 'no one from Turkey was present.' Even the trams that travel throughout the city are decorated with THY visuals. Without THY, Turkey would not be remembered. Furthermore, I had productive discussions with THY regarding bringing bloggers, journalists, and social media influencers to Alanya."
“Additional flights are being added due to high demand.”
Dahaoğlu continued his statement, saying: "As an agency, only Fibula Travel has opened a booth, which is 45 square meters in size. The company's general manager, Tunç Sudoğan, stated that Turkey was the country with the most sales in 2019. He also mentioned that the newly opened agency's target for its first year is 5,000 people. The Blu Style agency has purchased 26,000 seats this year and has already sold 70% of its capacity. Officials announced that they will be adding additional flights starting in June. At the fair, important agencies and tour operators are continuing their promotional and contract work. Officials from major tour operators such as Çedok, Orex, Exim, and Fischer stated that they are increasing their capacity and that the package tour market will grow by 30% in the 2019 season. However, the message was the same everywhere. In the Czech Republic, which ranks 11th among countries sending tourists to Turkey, attention was focused on Turkey.