Roundup: Turkey aims to woo 1 mln Chinese to save declining tourism this year

Turkey's beleaguered tourism is aiming at attracting over one million Chinese this year to fill vacancies left by a dwindling number of foreign arrivals mainly from Europe and Russia, tourism professionals said.

"Turkey should urgently expand its target market to China as the country is having one of its worst years in tourism," said Cetin Gurcun, secretary general of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB).

Repeated terror attacks in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities amid a deteriorating security situation, coupled with poor relations with Russia, have brought down the number of foreign travelers and revenues to an extent being felt by all in the industry.

"Turkey should target at least one million Chinese tourists this year to recover its losses," remarked Serdar Ibis, member of the board of the travel company Dorak Tour, which focuses on Asian tourists.

Tourism professionals argued that it would be possible to meet the "one million Chinese" target in the near future, as Turkey's unique cultural tourism that combines the modern with the ancient appeals to Chinese.

"Turkey has everything that a Chinese tourist would like to discover as it is home to many civilizations from Seljuk to Hittite, Roman Empire, and from Byzantine Empire to Ottoman's era," said Ibis.

Gurcun also indicated that the TURSAB is determined to provide all the necessary support to tourism agencies working with China to attract more Chinese in the short term.

The number of Chinese visiting Turkey in 2015 was 314,000, according to TURSAB data.

In the first quarter of 2016, Turkey saw a drop of 17 percent in foreign arrivals, the data show.

Turkey's Mediterranean resort of Antalya, an attraction to Russians in particular in the past, saw their arrivals fall by 90 percent in the first three months of this year.

Moscow imposed punitive measures including a travel ban on Ankara right after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November last year, a move that cannot be taken lightly as Russians used to constitute Turkey's second largest source of tourists after Germany.

The bombing attacks that have hit Turkey this year have claimed over 80 lives, among them 12 German tourists in Istanbul.

The threat of more to come has prompted a wave of booking cancellations and scared away many more.

As a result, Turkish tourism, which contributes some 4.5 percent to the country's economy, is expected to lose more than 7.6 million tourists this year, while the loss in revenue is supposed to hit nine billion U.S. dollars, according to the latest projections by the Tourism Data Bank.

In the worst-case scenario, the loss could be as high as 12 billion dollars, according to the projections.

Meanwhile, approximately 100 million Chinese travel around the world each year, as a result of significant economic growth in the country during the past decade, TURSAB data show.

"Turkey's cooperation with China in the field of tourism was first warmed up in 2007, when the Chinese people started to travel around the globe enjoying the economic boom," said Ibis.

Turkey has managed to achieve a steady increase in the number of Chinese arrivals by means of campaigns and promotions.

"The numbers have indicated a rise from 15,000 to over 300,000 in 2015," Ibis noted.

At the start of this year, however, Turkey received only 500 Chinese tourists during the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year period in February, a time when some families opt to travel abroad for exotic experiences.

Tourism professionals voiced optimism about drawing one million Chinese by the end of the year.

"Turkish tourism sector is very eager to host Chinese tourists," said Gurcun.

Some Turkish hotels and touristic sites have modified their decorations to appeal to Chinese, amended their menus to suit Chinese' tastes, while many tour guides have started to learn Chinese.

ATU Duty Free, a travel retail company, has recently partnered with UnionPay, a payment system referred by Chinese tourists, who are listed among the top five foreign customers with highest ending rates per capita at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

The deal offers an exclusive 10 percent discount to Chinese tourists during 2016 in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir airport stores.

"Although we're ready to welcome them we could not promote Turkey in China efficiently," Gurcun said.

Both Gurcun and Ibis urged the Turkish government to draft a policy to help improve touristic transactions between Turkey and China.

They also advised the Turkish authorities to make popular Turkish cultural products like TV shows and soap operas available in China as have been done in the Middle Eastern countries and Argentina.

Istanbul and its Ottoman palaces are among the major attractions for Arabs who watch the Turkish soap opera -- "The Magnificent Century," which is based on the love life of Ottoman sultan Suleiman I.

After it was aired in Argentina, the number of Argentines traveling to Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire, skyrocketed to 100,000 from a meagre 5,000.

Tourism professionals also suggested building Chinatowns in Turkey's big cities.

"Turkey could create Chinatowns, in which Chinese people would have a chance to promote their culture and their values to Turkish people," Ibis said. "This is what is missing here."

Gurcun, meanwhile, stressed that Turkey has been doing its best in providing security for tourists.

"Security measures have been tripled mainly in Istanbul and along the Mediterranean coast," he said, adding that "We have to improve our communication and explain this to Chinese people." Endit