Şükrü Cimrin, an official of the Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV), represented Alanya at Matka, Finland's most important tourism fair. Cimrin shared his discussions and impressions regarding the fair as follows:
As ALTAV, we participated in the fair at 2 separate locations, consisting of the Alanya stand located under the Ministry's 200-square-meter stand and a separate 30-square-meter private stand opposite the Ministry's stand. A total of 67 thousand people visited the fair over 4 days.
Additionally, Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD) President Burhan Sili supported the fair and conducted meetings by participating in all discussions during the first two days of the fair. At the Alanya stand, Alanyalı Nazmi Aydemir also introduced our art of squash painting to Finnish visitors by painting squashes brought from Alanya. The painted squashes, which are used as lamps, drew great interest from visitors and especially 'bloggers'. Serving at the stand, Seija Aspola and Marika Kolehmainen, as new Alanyalılar, provided information to the Finns visiting the stand as Finns living in Alanya and described their lives in Alanya.
The Alanya stand, equipped with Alanya visuals, experienced a flood of visitors due to its proximity to the main entrance of the fair, its position adjacent to the Turkey stand, and the fact that three of its sides were open. There was no other Turkey destination participating in the fair with a different stand besides Alanya.
Alanya promotional films were played continuously on large screens at the Alanya stand, and Finnish city guides about Alanya, Alanya bags, evil eye beads, Alanya bracelets, and Alanya city maps were distributed to the visitors. Throughout the fair, Turkish delight and nuts were offered to the visitors.
In addition, various activities and raffles were organized at the Ministry of Tourism's Turkey stand for 4 days, ensuring that a large number of people visited the stand.
CONTACTS ESTABLISHED AT THE FAIR
We participated in many meetings and discussions throughout the fair. Our Ambassador to Finland, Mr. Adnan Başağa, visited the Alanya stand, and we exchanged views with him.
We held a comprehensive meeting with the Helsinki Cultural and Tourism Promotion Attaché, Ms. Arzu Emel Yıldız, to discuss the projects we will be collaborating on for the 2016 season. Additionally, on behalf of the ALTAV Board of Directors, we presented her with a plaque of appreciation for the support she has provided to Alanya tourism to date.
In the meeting we held with THY Helsinki officials, we received information regarding the current status of flights between Finland and Türkiye. We specifically expressed our gratitude for the Helsinki-Istanbul-Alanya GZP round-trip promotions priced at 169 euros, provided that the flights are booked between January 21, the start date of the fair, and January 31, and flown on May 31. This promotion received great interest throughout the fair, and by promoting it at the Alanya stand, our staff directed those interested to the THY stand.
One of the important meetings we held at the fair was our meeting with TAV Marketing Manager Mr. Serkan Karahatay. We reached an agreement to carry out a series of joint studies regarding our common ground, the promotion of Alanya-Gazipaşa Airport (GZP) and the increase of the number of flights on an operator and passenger basis, and we agreed to hold our second meeting in Alanya together with the ALTAV Management.
At the fair, we conducted an interview regarding Turkey-Russia relations with a reporter from the Russian official news agency TASS who visited our stand. In this interview, we summarized our views by stating that the issue lies entirely between the governments and that, as Turkish tourism professionals and the public, we believe our Russian guests who wish to vacation in Turkey should not be affected by this crisis, and we conveyed our wishes for everything to return to normal as soon as possible.
Additionally, we held meetings with the managers of Aurinkomatkat, Apollo, Tjareborg, Detur, and Nazar, who are the primary operators bringing tourists from Finland to Alanya, to evaluate the state of the market and exchange ideas.
PRESS CONFERENCES
As ALTAV, we have placed great importance on hosting foreign press members in Alanya for many years. Through this method, we gain the opportunity to reach our target markets through their own media and to make our voices heard. Additionally, we seize the opportunity to announce all kinds of innovations in Alanya and topics that will attract the interest of our foreign guests through this way.
At the Finland Tourism Fair, which is one of our most important meeting points with the Finnish press, we held various meetings with the Finnish press. Some of these are as follows:
We met with Jari Tanskanen from the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. As our most recent guest, he had visited Alanya in May 2015 to inspect the runway extension works on-site and had received information regarding the airport from the authorities. We have agreed that he will return to Alanya again in May 2016 and perform his flight on the new, extended runway.
In our meeting with the editor of Mondo, which is currently Finland’s largest travel magazine, we agreed that their reporter, who arrived in Alanya 4 years ago, will return in the spring of 2016 accompanied by a photographer to report on the changes that have occurred in Alanya over the past 4 years and its new attractions in Mondo.
In our meeting with the owner and editor of Matka24, one of Finland’s most influential travel websites, we agreed to include up-to-date Alanya content provided by ALTAV on the site.
In addition to this, we completed the discussions we had initiated with two independent journalists prior to the fair during the fair, and we reached an agreement with them regarding their hosting as our guests within the scope of a press trip to Alanya.
In the meeting we held with the Helsinki Tourism and Culture Attaché Ms. Arzu Emel Yıldız, we expressed our gratitude for the support she has provided to Alanya during 2014 and presented her with a plaque of appreciation on behalf of ALTAV and all of Alanya. We exchanged views regarding the joint activities we will undertake for 2015. We agreed on providing detailed information in Finnish regarding the Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport on the website of the Helsinki Tourism and Promotion Attaché.
Additionally, in our meetings with Lomamatkat, Detur, Tjareborg, Nazar, and Aurinko Matkat tour operators, we evaluated 2014 and received information regarding 2015 planning. In order for Finnish tourists to have a happy holiday in Alanya, we conveyed the latest figures regarding the innovations in Alanya and the runway extension and capacity increase works related to our Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport.
We met with the managers of Matkaopas and Matkalehti, one of Finland's most widely read travel magazines, and Jari Tanskanen, an aviation specialist reporter from Finland's TRT, YLE, to share the latest information and developments, particularly regarding Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport. We have jointly organized a program and set a date for Jari Tanskanen to visit Alanya within the month of April to see the latest status of the airport on-site.
MISS FINLAND 2016 FINAL CAMP IS IN ALANYA THIS YEAR AS WELL
The pre-final camp for Miss Finland, the official beauty pageant of Finland, which has become a tradition since 2013, will once again be held in Alanya. During our meeting with the producers of the competition at the fair, we made determinations regarding dates and content, and have initiated the necessary work to ensure that the Alanya camp for the final 10 finalists is carried out in Alanya with the greatest success. Through the work we will conduct together with Detur and the Helsinki Culture and Tourism Attaché, the Miss Finland 2016 finalists will be in Alanya during the month of April with a team consisting of important Finnish daily and weekly newspapers and magazines. A team from national channels will also accompany them. Throughout the camp, the beauties and members of the press will share their experiences in Alanya with the Finnish media. The aforementioned cooperation began to be announced during the media launches of the organization, whose selections started as of last week.
SAARA AALTO AND THE SECOND RUNNER-UP OF MISS FINLAND 2015 PROMOTED ALANYA
The famous Finnish singer and young talent Saara Aalto visited the Alanya stand on the second day of the fair, where she spoke about Alanya to visitors and signed photos for her fans. Additionally, for the promotion of her song titled No Fear, which competed in this year's Finnish Eurovision selections, she performed her candidate song with an Alanya presentation on SONERA, one of the fair's main stages, and then invited everyone to the Alanya stand.
On the third day of the fair, Carola Miller, who stayed at the Miss Finland 2015 Alanya camp and was subsequently selected as the second runner-up of Miss Finland in the finals, provided information about Alanya to visitors by staying at the Alanya stand for two hours.
MARKET ANALYSIS
When we look at the Finnish market in general, the number of Finnish tourists coming to Türkiye from 2014 to 2015 was realized as 215 thousand people, with a 6 percent decrease. When we look at the graph of the last 6 years, it was expected that the number of tourists, which has shown a continuous increase, would reach a saturation point as of this year, but the 6 percent decrease was realized slightly above what was expected.
In the tour operator meetings we have conducted, we observed that plans for next year are showing an increase in some operators while remaining the same in others. However, the common point for almost all of them is that sales are trending lower compared to the same period last year. This situation reaches up to 30 percent in some tour operators. Additionally, Aurinkomatkat, which increased its capacity in Turkey by 30 percent compared to last year, currently has sales down by 26 percent, which indicates that its net sales are in the positive compared to last year.
The currently visible target is to maintain the number of 215 thousand tourists achieved in 2015. It would not be a realistic approach to exceed this figure.
Particularly, Alanya-Gazipaşa Airport stands out as our greatest asset. The tour operators whom we insisted on flying to our airport a few years ago stated during our meetings this year that while selling this new airline was difficult at first, their passengers who choose this route now want to arrive via Alanya-Gazipaşa, which demonstrates how important Alanya-Gazipaşa Airport is.
Issues such as the immediate removal of security concerns regarding Türkiye, image building efforts, support to be provided to tour operators, and press hosting are gaining importance in resolving the problem.
The Helsinki Culture and Tourism Attaché is still conducting a comprehensive promotion campaign in Finland. Films about Türkiye are playing on the giant screen of Helsinki's largest shopping mall, and visuals regarding Türkiye and its destinations are being displayed on billboards. In addition, the duration of the giant Alanya visual, which has been displayed as a facade wrap on a 3-story building on one of Helsinki's most luxurious shopping streets for 3 months, has been extended.
In the Finland market, where the package tour ratio shows a decrease every year in total arrivals to Türkiye, THY’s aggressive price promotions regarding Alanya-Gazipaşa are also a pleasing development that deserves to be appreciated.
The fact that Finnish tourists go on holiday especially during the low seasons, when we need tourists the most, makes them even more important. As ALTAV, our promotional activities directed towards the Finnish market continue without interruption, just as they do in other markets. We will be hosting many planned press groups. The Miss Finland Alanya Camp, which will be featured in the Finnish media for a week at the beginning of the season, is very important in terms of conveying positive news from Alanya and remaining on the agenda. Additionally, during our meeting with the production company during the fair regarding the second season of the program “Heroes of Alanya,” which was filmed in Alanya and aired on the Finnish national channel FOX TV, our request regarding the enrichment of the content to be broadcast from Alanya was met positively, and the second season filming will also be conducted in Alanya in the second half of the year.
Our wish is for Alanya to maintain the position it has established in the Finnish market over the years by matching last year's figures.