Finlandia brings good news. ALANYA Tourism Promotion Foundation (ALTAV) continues its promotion efforts for Alanya by participating in various fairs. ALTAV participated in Matka Messut, the largest tourism fair in Finland, held in the capital city of Helsinki. Şükrü Cimrin, a member of the Board of Directors of ALTAV, represented the organization at the fair. Cimrin, who held meetings with tour operators and travel agencies and conducted promotional activities on behalf of Alanya, shared his impressions of the fair: "ALANYA WAS HEARD BY FINNS." We promoted Alanya at a 200-square-meter stand organized by our Helsinki Culture and Tourism Promotion Advisor, Arzu Emel Yıldız. Seija Aspola, a foreign resident living in Alanya, also participated at the ALTAV stand. She provided information to visitors and answered questions as a Finnish citizen living in Alanya. Visitors were given Finnish city guides, Alanya bags, Alanya city maps, Alanya hiking trail maps, nazar boncuk (evil eye) beads, pens, and 2018 wall calendars decorated with pictures of Alanya, and refreshments were offered. "TURKISH CUISINE RECEIVED GREAT ATTENTION." Visitors to the Turkish stand were given gözleme (savory pastries) cooked on the spot at regular intervals, which received great interest. At a cocktail party held on the first day of the fair at the Turkish stand, tourism professionals, tour operator representatives, and the press gathered, and Turkish delicacies were served to the guests. On the second day of the fair, the Finnish Ambassador, Adnan Başağa, hosted a dinner for participants from Turkey. We participated in this event and represented Alanya with all the tourism professionals from Alanya. MEETINGS HELD AT THE FAIR: We held many meetings on behalf of Alanya throughout the fair. In a meeting with our Helsinki Culture and Promotion Advisor, Arzu Emel Yıldız, we first thanked her for her support and the work we did together throughout 2017. We talked about our projects for 2018 and requested her support. In a meeting with İbrahim Kavranoğlu, the General Manager of Turkish Airlines (THY) in Helsinki, we thanked him for the promotional activities on the Helsinki-Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport (GZP) route and informed him that we would like to see THY involved in some of our planned projects in 2018 regarding transportation. We visited the stand of our sister city, Rovaniemi, and discussed potential collaborations with the city's administrators in the coming period. "ALANYA WAS PRESENTED THROUGH FINNISH CHANNELS." During the fair, we held meetings with bloggers and YouTubers from various countries with a large number of followers, based on the contacts we had established beforehand and the appointments we had made. We expressed our desire to host them in Alanya and discussed the mutual expectations and conditions of this collaboration. Our goal is to ensure that Alanya is featured in various channels of social media and under different themes throughout 2018. Following a meeting with Jari Tanskanen, a correspondent for the Finnish Radio and Television Company (YLE), we agreed to host him in Alanya in the spring to cover the latest developments in Alanya. We participated in filming sessions with destination representatives to be published on the website and social media accounts of the Helsinki Culture and Tourism Advisory Office, and we provided updated information about Alanya. "AGENCIES INCREASED CAPACITY." According to information received from Aurinkomatkat, one of the major tour operators in Finland, sales are 3 times faster than the same period last year, and capacity in 2018 has increased by 35% compared to 2017. The tour operator Tjareborg reported that it has increased its capacity by 100% compared to last year, stating that its sales are 5 times faster than last year. According to information from Detur, their plans for this year are 25% higher than last year, and the sales rate is higher than the same period last year. We also know that TUI and Loma Matkat, which did not have a stand at the fair, have better figures than last year. Aurinkomatkat and Tjareborg stated that they are organizing flights to GZP in order to offer Alanya travelers the comfort of flying to that airport. Detur, on the other hand, will only fly to Antalya Airport. "FINNAIR WILL FLY DIRECTLY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR." Undoubtedly, the best news for Alanya came from Finnair. As known, Finnair, the official airline of Finland and a partner of Aurinkomatkat, flew directly from Helsinki to GZP with two planes per week from April to December 9th last year, during the summer season. These flights were completed with a high occupancy rate, both with package tour guests and with individual ticket sales. In a press statement, Finnair CEO Juha Jarvinen stated that they did not withdraw during Turkey's difficult times and continued to fly in 2017, and that they see a great potential for growth in the Alanya-Helsinki route, and therefore, with the start of the 2018 season on March 16, 2018, they will continue flights throughout the year. Accordingly, 4 planes will fly to GZP and 1 plane will fly to Antalya Airport during the summer season, and after the end of summer, one of the flights from Alanya will continue every week throughout the winter. Package tour sales will also continue on these flights. "THE FINNISH MARKET WILL RISE IN 2018." In parallel with the tour operators' plans to reduce their operations in the Finnish market, the number of Finnish tourists, which was around 120,000 in 2016, decreased to around 100,000 in the summer of 2017. Nevertheless, the plans and daily sales figures for 2018 indicate that this downward trend will be replaced by an increase again in 2018. The decision of Finnair to extend the Helsinki-GZP flights throughout the year is a turning point. For the first time, a continuous operation will be carried out from the Nordic countries to Alanya, which is invaluable in terms of revitalizing winter tourism and serving as an example for other tour operators and airlines. In addition, all the tour operators we spoke with stated that their sales are going well in 2018 and that they are getting the return on the capacity increases they are making based on demand. While Turkey was in third place in package tour sales in the 2016 season, after Spain and Greece, it fell to fourth place in the 2017 season, falling behind Thailand. If the 2018 sales continue as expected, Turkey will return to the third place. All tour operators confirm an increase in demand for Turkey and state that Turkey is progressing towards its rightful place as the country with the best price-quality ratio in the market. "INCREASE, BUT LOSS CONTINUES." It is important to remember that the loss of tourists from Finland and other Nordic countries has been around 70% in recent years. The expected increase of 30-40% next year should be evaluated based on the current loss, and planning should be made accordingly. For example, if we assume that 100 people came in previous years, this number decreased to 30 in 2017, and if there is a 40% increase next year, 42 people will come in 2018. Although the increase rate is high, the number is still far from the figures we are accustomed to. It will take several seasons to reach the 2014 figures. As ALTAV, we will continue our efforts throughout the year to accelerate this improvement.