The head of the Europe-Turkey Tourism Council, Hüseyin Baraner, has stated that Turkey can benefit a lot by developing new tourism niches that cater to the older Europeans. At present more than 160 million Europeans are over the age of 50 and by 2050, the number will be very very high. What’s important to understand is that these over-50 Europeans are a moneyed lot who are not averse to traveling and discovering new places.
Archive for February, 2007
Turkey seeks to attract ageing Europeans
Saturday, February 17th, 2007Athens International Airport rewards performance
Saturday, February 17th, 2007The seventh annual Airline Marketing workshop organized by the Athens International Airport was marked by the special awards that AIA presented to those that contributed to the airport’s growth. The airport touched 15.1 million passengers in 2006, which is a 5.6% increase over the 2005 figures. The workshop was an opportunity for interaction and exchange of ideas between airlines and the Airport Company. To read about the award winners, go here.
European airlines carried 14.8 million more passengers in 2006
Saturday, February 17th, 2007The Association of European Airlines has released traffic and capacity figures of its members for the year 2006. 343.6 million passengers were handled by AEA members during the year, which is a 4.5% increase over 2005. To get a breakup by individual operating regions, go here.
A trade fair to remember
Saturday, February 17th, 2007Rome will witness a huge tourism fair from 22nd to 24th March 2007. The fair, Globe, will be held at the new exhibition center in Rome and will present an excellent opportunity to businessmen to strike acquaintances and deals. The fair will be offering 40,000 square meters of space to more than one thousand companies from Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Italy is hosting such a fair for the first time and hopes to successfully sell its tourism products. Globe is also hosting the Italian Art Cities Exchange in partnership with ENIT; this forum will have more than 250 exhibitors putting forth the best examples of cultural tourism. A separate event will be held at the Sheraton Golf Hotel on 23rd March. This will be the “lobby fair†aimed at focusing attention on investments in tourism. This is meant to attract banks, real estate, and institutional development firms.
Europe by rail is like watching a movie unfold
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007Travelers to Europe increasingly prefer to uncover the wonders of Europe by train which gives them a better chance to drink in the picture postcard beauty of the countryside on the routes in Switzerland, Ireland, England, Germany, and Italy. In fact, more than 85,000 travelers turned to the train instead of the airplanes in the past season.
This has led to the formation of Rail Europe by the major tourist destinations in the continent. The objective of this enterprise will be the promotion of rail travel in Europe for business and leisure tourism. Moreover, rail travel enables people to reach places that they cannot via airplanes and in some cases, rail travel is decidedly cheaper too.
British government issues travel warning
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued a notice advising against travel to various parts of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan unless very essential. The notice comes in the wake of the tense situation prevalent in these areas due to possible strikes by terrorists.
Areas in India deemed unsafe for travel include the Kashmir valley and parts of North East India like Manipur, Tripura, and Assam. India has had to suffer terrorist attacks in major metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Read more.Â
Turkey to woo North America
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be running advertising campaigns in the print and electronic media throughout 2007 to catch the attention of the North American public. Turkey hopes to draw tourists from America and Canada as well as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela by positioning itself as a destination with historical and cultural values.
Ads related to Turkish tourism will appear on networks such as Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Turkey has witnessed a decline in tourists because of terrorism; although 2006 was a good year which saw a 22% increase in the number of tourists as compared to 2005.
Egypt attracts record number of tourists
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007Egypt received 9 million foreign tourists in 2006, a 5.5% increase over 2005. This was stated by Ahmed El Khadem, the Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority. The maximum number of tourists came from countries like the United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany in Europe. These countries sent around a million tourists each. Another major chunk of tourists came from the Middle East. Spain too contributed handsomely to Egyptian tourism with the number of tourists from Spain showing an impressive increase toward the end of the year.
Europe to promote Cultural Tourism
Monday, February 12th, 2007CULTOUR, the international fair of cultural tourism, Tour operators from all over the world descended at Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Europe was represented by tour operators from countries like Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Read more.
Frequent flyer miles take man to space
Monday, February 12th, 2007Alan Watts is set to become the world’s first man to redeem his frequent flyer miles for a visit to space. Alan will exchange his two million Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for a trip to outer space with Virgin Galactic. Alan will fly off to outer space in 2009. Read more.