Luxury trade benefits as Turkey's upmarket offering grows

12-Jun-08

Cox & Kings said its bookings for Turkey are up more than 200% this year, albeit from relatively low volumes.

While the strength of the euro has grown interest in visiting countries outside the EU, five star hotel openings have particularly helped Turkish tourism, the agent said.
"This boom in new luxury properties is why upmarket tour operators like Cox & Kings are suddenly noticing a big increase," European product manager Michael Fleetwood told Luxury Travel.
"Such luxury facilities are relatively recent in Turkey, and it used to sell mainly as a cheaper holiday, or bucket-and-spade package. There is an increase in demand for cultural tours and city breaks at top quality hotels."
The overall number of UK visitors to Turkey is increasing, with January to April 2008 figures showing an 18.75% increase on 2007.
Almost 206,000 UK visitors came to Turkey during that period, according to The Turkish Culture and Tourism Office.
The rise signals a strong upturn in the fortunes of the Turkish tourist industry, the association said.
"We are incredibly pleased to see the number of travellers to Turkey continue to grow," said Irfan Onal, director for the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in the UK.
"There are several projects underway to ensure the continuing development of infrastructure and services in a bid to prepare for the increasing number of visitors to Turkey."

Lorrie Croze, owner of Medcollection.com, said: "This year we have higher sales from Europe - England and Belgium mostly - and our Latin market has increased. Our US market is heavily down due to the dollar to euro - they are not travelling abroad as much. We see a lot more high end English looking for customized boutique-style accommodations than in the past." www.gototurkey.co.uk, www.coxandkings.co.uk