India will be amongst the top 10 markets for Turkey in the next three years, H.E. Firat Sunel, Turkish Ambassador to India, told businessline. Onur Gözet, Deputy General Director of Promotion, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Türkiye, said that Indian tourists are likely to increase by 30 per cent to 3.50 lakh in 2024.
Gözet told businessline that travel between India and Turkey has increased “multifold” over the past few years.
In 2020, according to him, over 2.20 lakh tourists visited Turkey. However, because of covid, there was a dip. This number crossed pre-Covid levels in 2022 itself. In 2023, “over 2.70 lakh tourists visited Turkey. We expect this to go up by 30 per cent to 3.50 lakh in 2024.”
Largest contributor
H E. Firat Sunel added that Germany is the largest contributor of tourism with over 5.50 lakh travellers visiting Turkiye every year followed by the Russian Federation and the UK followed by others. “In 2023, we had over 3.70 lakh travelers from the UK. I believe that India is an emerging market for Turkey, and can enter the top 10 in the next three years. Our aim is to eventually get to 1 million travellers from India,” speaking on the sidelines of the India road show organised by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism of the Republic of Turkiye and Turkiye Tourism & Promotion Agency in collaboration with TAAI.
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Both IndiGo and Turkish Airlines operate 14 daily flights including flights from Delhi and Mumbai. According to the delegates, besides Istanbul, which takes up 54 per cent of the travel pie, Antalya 11 per cent and Cappadocia contributes 9 per cent of top destinations for Indian travelers.
Sunel further said that besides these destinations, with the promotions and marketing in India in six cities, it is likely to increase. “India and Turkey have a cultural inclination. We have also seen an uptick in weddings. We also see a great opportunity in this segment as well. Besides this, there is a lot of heritage and beach tourism among others.”