Turkish Hoteliers Federation

Schools in Türkiye will start a two-week half-year term break on Jan. 20, with students and families eagerly awaiting the chance for travel and tourism professionals expecting a good inflow of tourists this year.

Cultural tours, thermal facilities and Turkish Cyprus are among the most popular routes for holidaymakers at a time when ski resorts lack snow globally.

Scores of people, especially students, are flocking to Turkey's major holiday destinations, such as Antalya, Cappadocia and Lake Abant, with the start of a short school break, giving a boost to local tourism activity.

Schools will remain closed from Nov. 15 to Nov. 19, but holidaymakers merged the weekends to prolong their stay at tourism destinations.

Turkey is applying the same COVID-19 measures for all arrivals as the EU, the country's tourism minister said on July 2. 

Turkey's popular tourist attraction Cappadocia region, which hosted a record number of tourists last year, is now having one of its quietest days in history due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Turkey's popular holiday destination Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, welcomed more than 186,000 foreign tourists in January, according to the head of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED).

"Foreign tourist arrivals in Antalya increased by 31 percent and marked the highest number of foreign tourist visits on record for the month of January," Sururi Çorabatır said.

Millions of people across Turkey have started to hit the roads during a 10-day public holiday for the Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and Victory Day, which starts late on Aug. 25 and ends on Sept. 3.

In many tourism resorts, hotel occupancy rates have hit 100 percent.

Turkey's struggling tourism sector wants to give a boost to the number of Turks traveling within the country and thus increase the share of local tourists in total numbers. 

A leading sector representative said there was a serious surge in numbers in this area last year, adding that the moves would continue to see a further rise. 

Around half a million Russian tourists visited Antalya after Russia lifted a ban on charter flights thanks to rapprochement between the two countries following a jet crisis last year, data compiled by Doğan News Agency has showed. 

Tourist facilities and local administrations in the southern province of Antalya, which hosts nearly a third of all tourists visiting Turkey, are preparing for the summer season under a cloud as Turkey's tourism industry continues to struggle.

Amid dark clouds over the tourism sector, Turkey needs to improve its image abroad in order to overcome difficulties it will face over the next two years, Turkish Hoteliers Federation head Osman Ay?k tells the Hürriyet Daily News. 'Turkey needs to show it is different to other countries.