Prontotour looks to expand tourism
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 18, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Celebrating its 16th year as a tour operator, Prontotour is on target for its main goal of making it as easy for Turkish tourists to travel abroad as traveling to a domestic location such as Antalya.
"Tourism in Turkey is growing. While it has seen a growth of 4 percent worldwide, in Turkey over the past 10 years the industry has grown by 10 percent," said Ali Onaran, speaking at a press conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.
While the global crisis has had a significant impact on tourism, with an overall fall of up to 20 percent this year, Prontotour has continued to increase the number of Turkish tourists it sends abroad. Onaran highlighted that 8 million tourists go abroad per year.
By drawing comparison with Germany, Onaran highlighted that despite more Turkish tourists going abroad, the figures are still low by comparison. Out of Germany’s 90 million population 65 million travel abroad. Out of Turkey’s 72 million, a mere 8 million go abroad. According to Onaran, visa obstacles Turks face create this large gap. "If Turkey did not have a visa problem, the number of citizens traveling abroad would rise tenfold." Onaran said.
In 2008 Prontotour sent 50,000 Turkish tourists abroad. This year it aims to add 10,000 more tourists to this figure.
Prontotour launched a campaign under the name of "Go to Greek islands without visa," a package holiday that enabled 10,000 Turkish tourists to visit the islands without any visa problems. Following the success of the campaign, this year Prontotour is launching a "Go to the Balkans without a visa" campaign.
"Going on holiday can be stressful when clients have to organize all the fine details such as visas, insurance and accommodation. We aim to do all the work for our clients," Onaran said.
While the global crisis has had a significant impact on tourism, with an overall fall of up to 20 percent this year, Prontotour has continued to increase the number of Turkish tourists it sends abroad. Onaran highlighted that 8 million tourists go abroad per year.
By drawing comparison with Germany, Onaran highlighted that despite more Turkish tourists going abroad, the figures are still low by comparison. Out of Germany’s 90 million population 65 million travel abroad. Out of Turkey’s 72 million, a mere 8 million go abroad. According to Onaran, visa obstacles Turks face create this large gap. "If Turkey did not have a visa problem, the number of citizens traveling abroad would rise tenfold." Onaran said.
In 2008 Prontotour sent 50,000 Turkish tourists abroad. This year it aims to add 10,000 more tourists to this figure.
Prontotour launched a campaign under the name of "Go to Greek islands without visa," a package holiday that enabled 10,000 Turkish tourists to visit the islands without any visa problems. Following the success of the campaign, this year Prontotour is launching a "Go to the Balkans without a visa" campaign.
"Going on holiday can be stressful when clients have to organize all the fine details such as visas, insurance and accommodation. We aim to do all the work for our clients," Onaran said.