At TUR 2011, one of Scandinavia's most important tourism fairs, Alanya was represented by Levent Alanya from ALTİD and Levent Benal from ALTSO.
As with other tourism fairs in Scandinavia, the greatest interest was once again directed toward the Turkey and Alanya stand. The wide participation of the press and travel agents in the cocktail organized by our promotion consultancy on the evening of the first day of the fair supports this.
At the Detur Türkiye stand, which organizes tours to Alanya, Apollo Tour, Sol Resor, Tyrkiet Resor, and Air Tours participated in their own stands. Tui Nordic (Fritidsresor) and Thomas Cook (Ving) did not participate in the fair but were represented at the general manager level.
During the Tur 2011 Fair, meetings were held with all tour operators operating in tourism organizations within our region and conducting similar activities in other destinations, as well as with many journalists. All these meetings have enabled us to understand that the demand from Scandinavian countries towards Alanya will continue to increase. However, the distance to the airport was expressed by all tour operator officials, which once again demonstrated the importance of GAZİPAŞA AIRPORT for Alanya. In addition to this, while Alanya is more advantageous in every respect compared to other destinations, the price instability among businesses and the failure to provide guests with sufficient shopping opportunities emerged as one of the significant problems facing our Alanya.
Another impression we gained from the TUR 2011 Fair is that there has been a significant increase in the portion of tour operators' promotion and sales activities conducted online, and their investments are being shifted toward these areas. In fact, major tour operators TUI NORDIC and THOMAS COOK, believing that directing their resources toward internet marketing activities would be more advantageous, were represented only at the General Management level and did not open stands at the TUR 2011 Fair.
In our meetings with journalists and tour operators regarding the spreading of Alanya tourism across 12 months, it was stated that Alanya is an ideal destination in every aspect during the winter months. The infrastructure works carried out in Alanya for the disabled guest group were explained and were met with interest and satisfaction by the operators. Indeed, concepts and departments targeting this guest group and Senior Tourism have been established by many agencies. Furthermore, in our meeting with the Göteborg representative of the SWEDISH RETIREES FEDERATION, it was again explained that Alanya is one of the most ideal destinations for "disabled and senior" guests; they acted with great interest to the subject, and a consensus was reached regarding the continuation of discussions on this matter. In this context, we believe that Alanya should participate in the 17th Senior Fair, which will be held this year in Stockholm, Sweden, between November 2-4, 2011, in a way that will also include elderly and health tourism.