Even after experiencing losses in 2016 due to unfavorable regional developments, multiple terrorist attacks and a thwarted coup attempt, Turkish tourism has managed to secure considerable growth this year in the number of visitors and revenue.
For next year, tourism industry representatives and businesses foresee far more considerable growth, citing stability in Turkey. Airliners and tourism agencies have been stressing strong numbers for 2018.
One of the world's largest tourism agencies, TUI Group, announced that the demand for Turkey in 2018 has seen a 70 percent increase.
Friedrich Joussen, the CEO of TUI Group, which operates in 180 countries across the world and serves 30 million people per year, shared significant developments at a meeting.
"We have been observing positive developments in the Turkish market. The 2018 summer sales to Turkey have seen 70 percent increase," Joussen said.
He even highlighted that the company has extended its contracts with local enterprises but the growing demand may not be met by the supply.
A global distributor of accommodation and ancillary products to the world's travel trade, Bedbank Hotelbeds stressed the positive developments in Turkey and said that bookings as of Oct. 1 have increased by 40 percent.
The company also stated that Turkey jumped from 11th to ninth in the rankings of top tourism destinations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
Hotelbeds pointed out that British tourists have started to return to Turkey and emphasized that the British rank first in bookings. The British are followed by Germany and Saudi Arabia, according to the global distributor.
In the same vein as TUI, Hotelbeds is reviewing its hotel portfolio and announced that it will make new contracts in the face of increasing demand. The company will provide additional capacity with 400 hotels for next summer.
Hotelbeds also underscored that the stability in Turkey has encouraged the return of British tourists, noting that the number of Saudi Arabian firms are also significantly rising.
The tourism operators also note that the existing accommodation capacity may not answer to growing demand.
More than 30 million foreign nationals entered Turkey in the first 11 months of 2017, according to data compiled by Turkey's migration authority.
Russians were the number one nationality visiting Turkey, followed by Germans and Iranians. In 2016, 24.7 million foreign nationals visited Turkey, and in the first 11 months of this year this figure rose by more than 5 million.
