The vector of tourism will continue to “shift” to Asia and today’s geopolitical changes will only exacerbate this trend. This was stated by Turkish experts from the Ekin Group, assessing the data on how many tourists come to Turkey in package tours, from which countries and markets and who brings these tourists, the following facts are noteworthy.
They reminded that in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “a total of 6.5 million tourists from the two countries who arrived in 2021, there can be no question, at least this year.” However, they further developed such a statement “while the entry market in Turkey for many years was predominantly European, led by Germany, in recent years it has become predominantly Asian, led by Ukraine and Russia.”
“The number one market for Turkey, which brings tourists, is no longer Germany as a country and TUI as a company. Germany has been replaced by Russia, and TUI has been replaced by tour operators of Turkish origin, ”the experts added. However, they noted that companies working with these countries are also seeing growth in “silent but steadily growing markets.” Among them are the Balkan countries, the Baltics and Poland.
However, the global vector is shifting towards Asia – say Turkish experts. Europe accounted for 55% of all tourists in 2005, now accounting for 46%, while the share of the Asia-Pacific region increased from 19% to 27% over the same period.
The UNWTO, according to Turks, says the tourism development center has already moved from Europe to Asia. And Turkey is a witness to that. “If in 2000 the share of European countries in the total number of visitors to Turkey was 67%, in 2020 it decreased to 44%, during the same period the share of Asian countries increased from 10 to 16%,” – added in Turkey.