On his current visit to Tel Aviv, Antalya Governor Munir Karaloglu is calling on Israeli tourists to once again visit his city. He wants to restore the situation as it was in 2008, when 550,000 Israelis visited Antalya.
169,000 Israelis visited Antalya in 2016 - 30% more than in 2015. Most of the tourists were from the Arab population. Karaloglu is now calling on Israelis to return to Antalya, which he called the safest place in Europe, if not in the entire world.
Karaloglu addressed Israelis as friends and neighbors, saying that anyone who visited Antalya had been favorably impressed. He also mentioned the proximity of Antalya to Tel Aviv, saying that they were "closer than Antalya is to Larnaca." He revealed that Turkish Airlines was working on a direct route from Tel Aviv to Antalya for next year.
On his visit to Israel, Karaloglu is accompanied by a delegation of leaders from Turkey, who came to encourage Israeli tourists to vote with their feet - and to some extent ignore recent statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which are naturally repelling tourists who might have considered abandoning the Greek islands this year and returning to Turkey.
In the vision that Karaloglu presented at his press conference today, he portrayed Antalya Airport as a home airport for Israelis. He envisioned an airlift of connection flights from Antalya to 300 different destinations all over the world. According to the Antalya governor, there is great commercial tourist potential, and he is proposing reciprocal tourism: encouraging Turks to visit Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on May 25, 2017
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