Türkiye’s tourism sector has great potential in Latin America, Türkiye’s Ambassador to Buenos Aires Şefik Vural Altay told Anadolu Agency (AA) Sunday.
He was speaking on the sidelines of Latin America's largest tourism fair, the Latin America International Tourism Fair (FIT), which opened its doors for the 26th time in Argentina for tourism enthusiasts.
The fair, which was held in the capital city of Buenos Aires, with the participation of Turkish Airlines (THY) as well as other Turkish companies, brought together travelers and tourism companies from Argentina and from more than 40 countries.
Many diplomatic representatives and Argentine Tourism and Sports Minister Matias Lammens attended the ceremony held for the opening of the fair.
Visiting the THY booth, Altay said they want the number of Turkish companies attending the fair to increase in the coming years.
Noting that there are some difficulties in traveling abroad from Argentina, Altay said, "We believe that these difficulties will be overcome in time. Despite all these difficulties, the number of Argentines going to Türkiye as of the first eight months of 2022 is almost 25,000 and this figure is to reach 35,000 by the end of the year,” he said.
The number was around 70,000 before the pandemic, the Turkish diplomat added.
Altay said that the economic problems in Argentina affected people's ability to travel abroad and the government implemented incentive policies for domestic tourism.
Explaining that Argentina has serious potential, Altay said that there is a mutual visa exemption between the two countries and that the number of tourists coming to Argentina from Türkiye may increase.
Mete Babila, the manager of Latitude Tourism Agency, stated that they participated in the fair for the first time as an agency and said: "We came because we know the interest of the public. Especially the TV series has had a great impact on the Americas. We used to work mostly with the Central and North American regions, now we work with South America, Argentina, Chile.
“We opened a booth for the first time to work with countries such as Uruguay,” he added.
Regarding their expectations from the fair, Babila said: "It is important to introduce Türkiye and our agency first, rather than the number of people we would attract. We want to show what we are doing in Türkiye.”
Regarding the number of tourists coming to Türkiye from Latin American countries, Babila said this year was very good in terms of the numbers.
“The South American market is a huge market for Türkiye,” he said.
Rosa Souza, a manager at LiteTur company and a citizen of Brazil and Türkiye, also stated that she participated in FIT for the first time and emphasized that her expectations from the fair were positive.
Pointing out that Turkish TV series contribute to tourism, Souza said that thanks to both affordable prices and direct flights from the region to Türkiye, they expect a high number of tourists from Latin America to Türkiye this year.
Firms active in the tourism sector from many countries, from Mexico to Japan, participate in FIT, which stands out as the largest tourism fair in Latin America. The fair, which will remain open until Oct. 4, is expected to be visited by more than 100,000 people this year.
