Newstrack

TITC hosts training session for the Indian travel trade

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

The Turkish-Indian Tourism Council (TITC) recently played host to the Indian travel trade to educate them about Turkey as a potential tourism destination beyond Istanbul. The council which consists of 12 stake holders - six hoteliers and six travel agents and tour operators, is responsible for promoting tourism traffic between the two countries by bringing agents and hotels together to provide competitive rates, while maintaining high quality.

The Turkish economy is the 15th largest in the world and tourism is an integral part of this Eurasian country, with 23.4 million tourists having visited the country in the first nine months of 2007 - 45,000 of them being Indian tourists. Says M Sait Yardimci, CEO, Club Medisa International, a tour operator and representative of TITC, "With our Indian affiliation of TUI-Le Passage to India, we have been focussing on Bollywood film makers coming to Turkey, and in addition, the establishment of the Indian Institute of Planning Management has led to increased Indian traffic into the country. Also, the Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) will be hosted in Turkey next year."

With the number of outbound Indian tourists on the rise, Yardimci believes that it is important to inform them about the Turkish culture, hospitality, service quality and tourism attractions, thereby promoting Turkey as a preferred world destination.

Furthermore, in order to attract the Turkish outbound to India, Club Medisa and TUI (Le Passage to India) are in the process of releasing an Indian brochure for them, revealed Yardimci. "The traffic both ways is growing strongly with about 7,000 visas being issued for India from Turkey, and close to 30,000 visas from India to Turkey, and we expect these figures to double this year," he remarked.

Selim Ozturk General manager - West and South India, Turkish Airlines With rise in traffic between Turkey and India, Turkish Airlines is looking at operating from more destinations, especially the South, from the country. Speaking exclusively at the sidelines of the Turkish-India Tourism Council meet to Express TravelWorld, Selim Ozturk, general manager - West and South India, Turkish Airlines, said, "We are eager to commence flights to other destinations from India but it is too early to comment on the destination. With operations now in Delhi (Northern India) and Mumbai (Western India), probably a point from the South would be an attractive opportunity." Furthermore, the airline recently attained permission from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to change its aircraft type to A330 and A340 from the existing A310s in India. From a global perspective, this Star Alliance member carrier is expected to add 11 new destinations and induct 23 aircraft out of its total order of 51 in 2008. The airline presently has a fleet size of 104 aircraft operating in 139 cities in 69 countries and at 1,348 airports.