Turkey eyes 1 million Chinese tourists in 2018

Turkish tourism players want to host 1 million Chinese travelers in 2018, which has been declared "Turkey Tourism Year" in China, within the framework of the "One Belt One Road" project. 

The head of Wanda Real Beijing, which is owned by China's Wanda Group, Fuat Köroğlu, told state-run Anadolu Agency said that the declaration of 2018 by China as "Turkey Year" would create significant opportunities for the sector. 

"The main problem of Turkey has unfortunately been wrong marketing policies. In order to evaluate this key opportunity, a comprehensive marketing and PR plan must be immediately prepared. The Chinese market is a very big and ready market," Köroğlu said.  

Marketing and PR work must be carried out to appeal to Chinese TV, he added.  

"Chinese people mostly visit South Korea, Japan, Thailand, France, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Singapore and the Maldives. Some of these countries are the biggest competitors of Turkey in tourism. Detailed research should be carried out in order to understand why Chinese people mostly travel to these countries," Köroğlu said.

In order to woo Chinese travelers, he stressed that Turkey also needed to diversify its tourism attractions "as Chinese travelers usually do not prefer sunbathing and swimming tourism."

Pamukkale top destination

A leading tourism player from the Aegean province of Denizli, where Pamukkale is located with its iconic white travertine stones, said up to 95 percent of Chinese tourists visiting Turkey came to Pamukkale. Other popular destinations for Chinese tourists are Istanbul and Cappadocia, according to sector players. 

Murat Şen, the head of the Denizli Touristic Hoteliers Association and a board...