Iran, the rising star of tourism

Turkey's most important tourism destination, Antalya, will host the fifth International Resort Tourism Congress next weekend on the heels of last week's G-20 Summit. 

The Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), the Association of Mediterranean Tourism (AKTOB) and the Ekin Group, a publication focusing on tourism, organized the conference "Tourism of the Future, the Future of Tourism," which provided a good opportunity to discuss tourism trends in the world. Of course, it also questioned the future of tourism in Turkey. 

This is because Turkey has been growing in tourism at two-digit figures every year for the past 25 years, but it is expected to complete 2015 with $5 billion in losses because of the Syrian crisis and economic fluctuations in Russia. 

According to experts, if you also add the hottest topic in the world, terror, into the equation, then question marks about tourism in 2016 are increasing. As a matter of fact, in the security section of the Tourism Competition Index of the World Economic Forum, Turkey ranks 121 among 142 countries. 

While tourism executives are trying to reach new markets like China, India and South Africa, it also appears that Turkey will have to compete with a new rival in the region. 

That new rival is Iran, which is in the process of normalization with the West. 

The CEO of the Ekin Group, Fehmi Köfteo?lu, said they would especially focus on Iran in a report they will submit to the tourism congress. 

Iran was also the star of the World Travel Fair in London held at the beginning of November, he said. "Iran's stand at the fair was five to six times bigger when compared to past years."

There is a special section dedicated to Iran in the global trends in tourism...