“We have returned to Turkey,” tour operators from Germany made such a triumphant statement in the Turkish media. Moreover, they expect that at least this year, when Turkey has problems with Russian tourism due to sanctions, the German market will provide more tourists than Russia, pushing Russia out of the first place. Although until this year, the German tourist flow was only second in the number of tourists after Russia.
Having already called itself a leader in the supply of tourists to Turkey, German tour operators stressed that “open to future offers of hoteliers, but will continue to focus on partner hotels with which they work for a long time.” Probably, this is a hint to “Russian” hotels in the same resort of Kemer, which are still considering whether they should open.
Turkish media provide such details and comments from the German side. FTI tour operator, they write, has signed an agreement with the budget “daughter” of Turkish Airlines “Anadolu Jet” to transport tourists from 8 German airports to Antalya. “We are back in Turkey,” said Thomas Besl, president of RTK’s travel agency network. According to him, this year the market of package resorts in Germany, mainly in Turkey, is growing sharply. His assessment was confirmed by the president of the German Travel Association (DRV) Norbert Phoebe.
At the same time, German experts do not forget to hint at the “failure” in other markets, primarily in Russia and the situation in Turkey in this regard. “Our partners in Turkey now need our support. Travel agencies can support them by selling more to Turkey, ”said Bentour CEO Deniz Ugur. Turkey has sufficient capacity, and increasing the number of rooms available on the market will further increase sales – added the German expert.
Their forecasts are as follows: the German TUI – whose Turkish “daughter”, Tantur, recall, is directly trying to block the arrival of Russian tourists – said in the person of his head of sales in Germany Hubert Kluske that the tour operator plans to deliver a total of 1.5 million tourists to Turkey , including 500 thousand in the Aegean Sea and 1 million in Antalya.
Other major German tour operators, such as DER Touristik, Dertour, Jahn Reisen and ITS, report that sales in Turkey are now 4 times higher than in 2019. DER Touristik Group CEO Seren Hartmann and Central European Director Ingo Burmester say the group wants to support Turkey with its sales in 16 countries. Moreover, in the Scandinavian countries, the tour operator wants to make Turkey second only to Greece in terms of supply.