Will the Israelis be back? An all-inclusive club hotel in Antalya
Photo: Oren Agmon
Turkish tourism attaché: Our product needs renewal
Some $2 million invested in campaign aimed at bringing Israeli tourists back to 'country of all-inclusives.' Tourism attaché: Israeli tourists are very important to us
"2010 will be a very important year for Turkey in terms of Israeli tourists," said Inanc Ozcakmak, Turkey's tourism attaché in Israel, on Wednesday in a press conference held in Tel Aviv.
Turkey is currently launching a new $2 million marketing campaign under the slogan "You saw it all, and you haven't seen anything!" that is meant to bring the Israeli tourist and the vacation packages offered by workers' unions back to "the country of all-inclusives" just across the sea.
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These moves coincide with Turkey's rental of the largest station at the tourism fair held recently in Tel Aviv.
"This year, Istanbul was crowned the cultural capital of Europe," said Ozcakmak. "This means there will be many more arts and culture events in the city, a fact that will contribute even more to the city's tourism potential. Israeli tourists are important to us, and I hope that many of them will decide to partake in our celebrations this year, be it in a visit to Istanbul or any other part of Turkey."
'Important that good relations are maintained'
According to the attaché, the new campaign is not specifically aimed at marketing Turkey after the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey, but is part of a marketing campaign that occurs every year in Israel and the rest of the world.
"We would like to renew our product," said Ozcakmak in a conversation with Ynet, "and to show places and sites that the Israeli tourist is not familiar with."
Ozcakmak said that Israeli tourism to Turkey is starting cover, as can be seen by the 4% increase in Israelis visiting the country in January 2010 versus figures from January 2009. "We hope to continue this trend in the coming year," he added.
However, it should be noted that Operation Cast Lead was waged in January 2009, bring down Israeli tourism figures to the whole world, not just Turkey.
In 2009, the percentage of Israeli tourists who vacationed in Turkey stood at 1.7% of all visitors to the country, which sees some 27 million visitors a year. Why, then, is Turkey so intent at bring back Israeli tourists to their country?
"We know that culture and tourism go hand in hand," said Ozcakmak. "They are the most important tools for instilling peace between countries and societies. Therefore, it is important that the relations remain good. Because of this, the campaign will focus on cultural and historical sites in Turkey, and not just on vacation deals and all-inclusives that Israelis are familiar with."
