Published on : Friday, January 11, 2019
To quote Deniz Ersöz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India, “By the end of 2018, Turkey hosted more than 40 million tourists and as a result Turkey ranks 6th in terms of the international tourist arrivals in the world. Istanbul and Antalya are amongst the top 5 cities in Europe in terms of internatonal tourist arrivals by hosting more than 12 million tourist in one year. The numbers for India are positive too, however we know that it could be much better. In 2019, Turkey Tourism will focus on highlighting the uniquness of Turkey in India with special attention on cultural heritage sites like Gobeklitepe, Ayasofya and Topkapi.”
“As the Tourism Counsellor, I know that Turkish people have keen interest to visit & explore India. However, lack of sufficient direct flights between both the countries and difficulty in procuring Indian visa for Turkish citizens hinders the arrival of Turkish tourists to India. With mutual efforts, we can overcome these problems and increase the mutual touristic flow between our countries. I also believe that the tourism authorities of both countries need to work in association with each other, so that both India & Turkey can achieve the target numbers.” added Deniz.