Accommodation facilities and resorts on Türkiye’s Black Sea coast are swarmed with tourists from the Gulf nations, in a bounce-back that is recalling pre-pandemic days, injecting a fresh boost for the country’s vital industry.
Skies over Trabzon province on the northeast coast have been dominated by planes bringing in tourists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, who are staging a post-pandemic comeback that comes as Türkiye’s ties with Gulf countries return to normal.
Escaping blistering desert summers, Arabs have been over years lured the Trabzon’s green surroundings, mountaintop lake and cool breeze. Türkiye generally counts on its large Mediterranean coast and rich heritage to draw more visitors.
With summer in full swing, visitors from the Gulf countries mainly opt for uplands, spearheaded by Uzungöl, a beautiful lakeside town an hour south of Trabzon. Surrounded by mountains and decorated with the greenest of trees, Uzungöl (Long Lake) is the jewel of the city that has become the most visited destination by tourists from Gulf countries.
The region is experiencing better-than-expected mobility this summer, says Türkiye Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) Eastern Black Sea Region Representative Volkan Kantarcı.
Kantarcı says accommodation facilities are almost fully booked, with arrivals and growing demand strengthening prospects for a year that will top even the figures from 2019, dubbed the best tourism year ever.
While Germans, Russians and British tourists continue to top the list – most of them lured to Türkiye’s cheaper all-inclusive packages – high-spending tourists from Arab countries have also experienced big jumps this year.
"We had reached serious numbers in 2019. The number of foreign tourists had exceeded 600,000, and in the first months of this year, our assessment was that we would exceed the figures of 2019," Kantarcı said.
"We thought that if we could reach 1 million, it would be very, very good. But especially after Eid al-Adha, there was a really unexpected demand. And the number of planes coming from international routes has increased. This big wave and the wind continue."
High demand has delayed many bookings to September and October and winter months, he added.
"Both in terms of plane tickets, accommodation facilities and tour reservations, our expectation is that we will experience the best winter ever," Kantarcı noted.
"Some airlines and tour operators are already making plans for winter. They are making the evaluations to be able to continue flights on certain days of the week. I hope that there will be no disruption, and in the winter months, both our city of Trabzon and other provinces in our region will experience a good tourism intensity."
Türkiye attracted over 23 million foreign visitors from January through July, surging 128% annually, according to official data, paving the way for $37 billion in tourism revenues sought by the government.
The arrivals have been mainly backed by Russian visitors who opted for Türkiye due to flight restrictions applied by Western countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The numbers of German and British visitors also rose strongly.
Tourism revenues are vital to Türkiye’s economy as the government’s economic plan focuses on expanding the current account surplus to tackle high inflation and interest rates.
The government raised its year-end targets last month to 47 million tourists and $37 billion in revenues, up from its earlier targets of 45 million arrivals and $35 billion in income.
The number of foreign visitors soared 94.1% to 24.71 million last year when COVID-19 measures were eased compared to 2020. Tourism revenues doubled to almost $25 billion, but remained well below the level recorded in 2019.
Officials had hoped tourism this year could replicate or exceed the numbers from 2019, when some 52 million visitors brought in $34 billion in revenue.